LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

©i^aji Qnp^rigli '^a. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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ZION'S BANK. 

As Sung by Rev. G. W. Anderson. Arr. by Joshua Gill. 




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1. I liave anever-failin^r bank, WellfiilM with golden store: 

2. Tlie uotes that are accepted here,With blood must al I be signed ; 

3. A lep-er liad a little note. Lord, ir" thou wilt,thou can: 

4. Some fear tliey write so poor a hand,Their notes will be rejected : 

5. Sometimes my banker smilin;^ says, Why don't you oflener come: 

6. Kicher and richer still I grow. The poor-er I be - come; 




No other bank contains so much Tliat can enrlcli the poor. 
All others.bear what name they may. Are ut-ter- ly de-cHned. 
The Jianker cash'd his little note, And savM tlie wretched man. 
But always humble souls obtain Much more than they expected. 
And when I draw a little note. Why not a lar-ger one? 
And thus ibr-ev-er it will be. Till I ar-1:ive at Home! 




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Coypright, 1SS7, ^y JOSHUA GILL. 



THE 

BANK OF FAITH; 

OR, 

A LIFE OF TRUST. 



WILLIAM HUNTINGTON, S. S. 

Minister of Providence Chapel, London, 



^ ABRIDGED AND REVISED BY 

IJ^ ,^ W:^cDONALD. 



" And he said unto them^ When I sent you without purse ^ 
and scrips and shoes ^ lacked ye anything ? And th ey said, 
Noth ing " {Luke xxii. 35). 




Boston : 

Mcdonald, gill & co., 

36 BROMFIELD STREET, 
1889: 



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o-« 



O 



^ 



6^ 



^\%'^ 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, 

By Mcdonald, gill & co.. 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



GEO. B. TODD & CO., PRINTERS, BOSTON. 



INTRODUCTION^ 



''The Bank of Faith/' which we here in- 
troduce to our readers, will be found helpful 
to such as believe that '' all things are possi- 
ble to him that believeth/' The subject of 
faith for temporal matters has failed to 
secure the attention which it demands. 
The author of ''The Bank of Faith" well 
exemplifies the subject, whose whole life 
seems to have been a life of trust. In many 
respects he was a unique character, but in 
the matter of faith he was eminently scrip- 
tural. The artless simpHcity with which he 
relates the simple story of his trust in God 
for temporal supply, carries conviction to 
every Christian heart. A man with no edu- 
cational advantages, his mission was to the 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

poor. But the educated and wealthy, whose 
hearts had been touched by the grace of God, 
listened to him with delight. " I believe," 
he says, " God never intended me to be a 
preacher to the rich, because He has ever 
kept me dependent on His providence. Had 
I been rich, I might have been tempted to 
trust in uncertain riches ; and I know well 
that 'where the treasure is, there will the 
heart be also.* Nor have I any reason to 
believe that God ever intended me for a 
preacher to please Pharisees." He was an 
earnest, spiritual man. **By nature," he 
says, '^ we are all fond of a specious form of 
religion, and God permitted me to use a dry 
form for many years ; but He never regarded 
any of those prayers put up by me, nor re- 
moved the guilt of my sin in answer to 
them ; therefore, to use an English proverb, 
* I shall never speak well of that bridge, 
because it never bore me safe over the 
stream/ " 



INTRODUCTION, 5 

Mr. Huntington is very severe on formal- 
ism. ''I know, ' he says, '^ that God tells us 
to turn away from those who 'have a form of 
godliness, but deny the power thereof.' And 
dry forms of devotion, used by people who 
deny the grace and Spirit of God, are no 
better than a stage for antichrist, a varnish 
for sepulchres (Matt, xxiii. 27) ; an apparal 
for harlots (Isa. iv. i) ; a winding sheet for 
Pharisees (Isa. xxx. i) ; a bribe of dead works 
put into the hands of an honest conscience 
(Heb. ix. 14) ; a trading stock for blind guides 
(Isa. Ivi. 11); a dish of husks to stifle con- 
victions (Luke XV. 16) ; a mongrel service 
offered to God and Mammon (Matt. vi. 24) ; 
the mimicry of hypocrites (Matt. xv. 8) ; a 
starting hole to shun the cross (Isa. xliii. 22) ; 
and infidelity's last refuge. 

** God permitted me, for many years, to try 
what a form of devotion would do for me ; 
but, like the poor woman in the gospel, I 
got worse instead of better, therefore was 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

obliged to lay it by, and let the words of my 
mouth be the meditations of my heart." 

When Mr. Huntington had become fully 
disenthralled from the bondage of formalism, 
the question of a life of trust was presented to 
his mind, and he soon accepted it as the will 
of God. *' I believe God intended," he says, 
*' that I should preach faiths because He has 
kept me dependent by faith on Himself both 
for spiritual and temporal supplies." While 
his faith did not aspire to great undertak- 
ings, it was none the less clear, scriptural 
and effective. His temporal wants were not 
extravagant, but such as they were, God sup- 
plied them in answer to prayer. And he 
assigns as a reason for writing his '' Bank 
of Faith," that *'we are often tempted to be- 
lieve that God takes no notice of our tem- 
poral concerns." 

Mr. Huntington as firmly believed that his 
mission was to the poor as that he was re- 
quired to live by faith. '* I am persuaded," 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

he says, ^^that God intended me for a minis- 
ter to the ignorant and to the /^^r; to the 
ignorant, because he sent me to preach, and 
gave me many seals to my ministry before I 
could read a chapter in the Bible with pro- 
priety ; to the poor, because he sent me 
without a penny in my pocket ; therefore, 
as a minister to the poor, I hope to magnify 
my office.'* 

*' The Bank of Faith," when first published, 
met with no little opposition, as did its au- 
thor. He says, ^* I did not expect that it 
would be in equal esteem with the Bank 
of England.'' He was ** aware of the re- 
proach which would be cast upon such a 
work, as also upon the author ; but this does 
in no wise concern me.'* He says, ** I only 
wish that I was as free from every sin as I 
am from the carnal fear of man." He ex- 
presses the belief, that, "if Elijah were on 
earth, he would be loaded with as many re- 
proaches of uncharitableness as I have been. 



8 INTRODUCTIOX. 

But why should I wonder at this, when 
Christ Himself was accused by the doctors 
of old of preaching and working under the 
influence of a bad spirit." '' The Bank of 
Faith," he says, ''has dropped into the hands 
of these gentlemen, and it has acted the part of 
Samson ; that is, it has made sport for them ; 
and no wonder, seeing they have attributed 
the government of the world to blind fortune, 
and the 2:lorv which is due to God is ascribed 
to a phantom on a wheel." And yet these 
men are said to have been ministers of the 
gospel. 

Having said so much in regard to the 
author of ''The Bank of Faith," we must 
refer the reader to the work itself for further 
information. We have revised the work, 
omitting those portions which seemed to us 
of little value, and adapting it to the modern 
reader. The work has been out of print for 
some years, and, when published, was in such 
an unattractive style as to turn the ordinary 
reader away from its perusal. 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

We believe that the subject of faith for 
temporal as well as spiritual blessings should 
be revived in the Church. On every side 
the cry rings out, ''work!'' ''work!" 
"work!" To this we have no objection, 
provided it be the "work of faith." To this 
end, it must spring from faith. But it is very 
certain that most of the work done is that of 
" going about to establish our own righteous- 
ness." It does not spring from a living 
faith, which " works by love and purifies the 
heart." 

The soul's need should be supplied by 
faith. This is paramount to all else. We 
are ^'justified by faith," and " have peace 
with God." After this, the heart is "puri- 
fied by faith," and our "love is made per- 
fect." We are then "kept by the power of 
of God through faith." So that every step 
in the soul's progress is secured and main- 
tained by faith. 

The body has its needs as well as the soul. 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

and these are to be under the law of faith. 
While we are not to sit down and vainly 
trust God to feed us in our indolence, we are 
to remember that our resources are limited 
without the interposition of God. And we 
are to trust God for temporal supplies as 
truly as for spiritual, as God is the author of 
both. 

Where our resources fail, the divine sup 
ply may be looked for. The oil and the 
Jlour did not multiply while there was any 
left in the cruse or the barrel. But when 
the widow had reached the bottom of both, 
then God came to her help in answer to the 
prayer of the prophet. It is not a difficult 
task to trust God for bread with a full barrel 
to draw from. But the place to try our faith 
is over an e^npty barrel. The author of 
''The Bank of Faith'* was successful at 
times, as the reader will learn by a perusal of 
the following pages. 

If the body is sick, and human skill fails to 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

heal, we are to remember that Jesus can heal 
the body as well as the soul. To Him we 
are to make our appeal when human skill can 
render us no valuable aid. 

Mr. Wesley records in his journal many 
cases in point : '^When I came home, they 
told me the physician said he did not expect 
Mr. Myrick would live till morning. I went 
to him, but his pulse was gone. He had 
been speechless and senseless for some time. 
A few of us immediately joined in prayer. 
(I relate the naked fact.) Before we had 
done, his sense and his speech returned. 
Now, he that will account for this, by natural 
causes, has my free leave ; but I choose to 
sa}^ This is the power of God." 

*'I was desired," he says, ''to visit one 
who was eminently pious, but had now been 
confined to her bed for several months, and 
was utterly unable to raise herself up. She 
desired us to pray that the chain might be 
broken. A few of us prayed in faith. Pres- 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

ently she rose up, dressed herself, came 
down stairs, and I beUeve had no further 
complaint." 

Our one desire, in sending ''The Bank of 
Faith" in this form on its mission is, to 
help the faith of God's poor children accord- 
ing to His Word. 

w. Mcdonald. 

Boston^ Mass. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I IS 

II 30 

III. SI 

IV 72 

V . 94 

VI 112 

VII. . . . . . . 128 

VIII 146 

IX 165 

X . 192 

XL ..... . 213 

XII 231 

XIII 258 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER I. 

When I was about seven years of age I 
heard a person say that God took notice of 
children's sins. The wonderful workings of 
my mind upon these words I shall not at 
present describe ; neither shall I mention the 
many trials I underwent at the bar of my own 
constience, while the impression dwelt on my 
mind. I also remember to have once heard 
a person say that all things were possible 
with God ; which words I secretly treasured 
up and pondered in my heart ; and as I had 
great desire at that time to live in the capac- 
ity of an errand-boy with a certain gentleman 
in the place, being very poorly brought up, 
and knowing much the want of the common 
necessaries of life, it came into my mind that, 
if all things were possible with God, it was 



16 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

also possible for him to send me to live as a 
servant-boy with 'Squire Cooke; though at 
the same time he had a boy who I believed 
was well approved of. Notwithstanding this 
last circumstance, I privately asked God, in 
an extempore way, to give me that boy's 
place ; and made many promises how good I 
would be if he granted me this request. For 
many days I privately begged of God this 
favor, which nobody knew but God and my- 
self, till now I relate it. I believe I went on 
in this way of praying, sometimes under a 
hedge, or on my bed, for a week or two ; and 
I thought, if God granted me this favor, I 
should know whether all things were possible 
with him or not. Having prayed for many 
days, and finding no likelihood of an answer, 
I readily concluded that there was no God ; 
and therefore I had no cause to be so afraid 
of sinning, nor had I any occasion to pray to 
him any more. Accordingly I left off pray- 
ing for some time, and then began again, till 
at last I left off entirely. Some few days 
after this, there came a man to my father's 
house, and said, "William, 'Squire Cooke 



THE BAXK OF FAITH. 17 

wants a boy ; why don't you go after the 
place?'' I said, ''John Dungy lives there." 
He answered, ''No; he is turned away." I 
asked for what. He replied, "Old Master 
Coly, the oyster-man, went there a few days 
ago, to carry some oysters and, while the 
old man was gone with a measure of them 
into the house, the boy robbed the pads, as 
they hung on the horse, while he was tied at 
the gate and the mistress, seeing him, dis- 
charged him for it." 

The compunction which I felt, the thoughts 
that I had, the various workings of my mind, 
the promises I made, and the petitions I put 
up, as I went after the place, I choose to 
conceal ; for I think they would hardly be 
credited, considering I was no more, at this 
time, than eight years old. However, to my 
astonishment, I got the place, and the bargain 
was struck at twenty shillings per annum. 
For many days and weeks an uncommon 
impression about the power of God lay fresh 
on my mind. But, soon after this, a sudden 
temptation brought me to believe that there 
^as no God ; that, if there was, he took no 



18 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

notice of such creatures as we are, or of any 
of our affairs ; and that it was by chance I 
got the place ; wherefore I imagined that I 
had no occasion to pray, or to pay the vows 
which I had made. This temptation made a 
sufficient breach for me to creep out at, and 
proved an awful inlet to vice and vanity, 
which for some months I gave way to. Soon 
after this, I offended my master, was dis- 
charged from my servitude, and went home 
as deeply stung with guilt for my folly as I 
had been before lifted up at the sight of 
God's mercy. 

After this period I had sharp work in my 
conscience for some years, at certain times, 
but was still pursued with deistical principles 
— that God took no notice of our proceed- 
ings ; till at last it appeared rather fixed in 
my mind, and insensibility and stupor natu- 
rally followed. Now it was that I got wholly 
out of all fear of God, or thoughts of futu- 
rity, and very soon learned to dance ; which 
is just as serviceable a net to ruin souls as 
devils could invent, or frail mortals drop into. 
However, God put a stop to this, by laying a 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 19 

fit of sickness on my tabernacle, which I had 
never before experienced. I labored hard, 
rather than submit to go to bed ; and made a 
shift to keep about my business as long as I 
was able to move a limb ; but at last I was 
forced to yield. Then my conscience began 
to perform her office, and the wrath of God 
to alarm me ; so that I was fully convinced 
God took notice of my conduct in this life, 
and would reckon with me for it in the next. 
I lay in this state of mind until I had an ear- 
nest of damnation in my heart ; and I had 
not a single doubt of my portion in everlast- 
ing burnings, if I died in that state. God 
brought me so nigh the end of all flesh that 
the rattles of death stopped my breath twice. 
I tried to fly from death, and got out of the 
bed to run away, but could not ; for I fell on 
the floor, and there lay till my fellow-servants 
found me, and put me into bed again by 
force. Soon after I heard one of the maids 
say, **Poor William will die.'' **Yea," said 
the other, ** Doctor Wilson has given him 
over.'' They knew not that I heard them. 
I tried again to fly from death> but found 



20 THE BANK OF FAITH., 

I could not. So I began to whisper a prayer 
to God, which conscience would not allow me 
to do before. As I began to pray, I gathered 
strength, and in less than a month was out 
of doors. I quitted my servitude, went home 
to my parents till my recovery, and never 
danced any more from that hour to this. 
Soon after I got well I was informed that 
one 'Squire Pool, of Charren in Kent, wanted 
a servant. I went after the place, and took 
courage to ask of God the favor of success, as 
he had been pleased to punish me for my 
past folly, and had brought me to believe that 
I had highly offended him. I went under a 
hedge, and put up a solemn prayer to him to 
give me success in my journey, and make me 
an object of his care for the future; and I 
cut a stick half through, and bent it down in 
the hedge, which I promised to look at, on 
my return, and render praise to God, if he 
granted me this favor. Somewhat like poor 
Jacob, in his trouble, when he anointed the 
pillar, by pouring a little oil upon the top of 
it ; and promising, if God would keep him, 
then he should be his God ; and, of all that 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 21 

God should give him, he would give God the 
tenth part. God heard my prayer, and I got 
the place. Though there was a servant in 
the parlor with the gentleman, and though 
they had partly agreed when I went in, yet 
he broke off the bargain with him to my as- 
tonishment. The reason why he chose me 
in preference to the other was, because he 
was a married man and I was not. This was 
lYvQ secondary C2i\x^t ] but I resolve it by the 
primary one. At my return, I looked with 
many tears at the stick which I had marked, 
and offered up an imperfect tribute of praise 
to the God of my daily mercies, whom I had 
neglected and much offended. 

For some time I endeavored, while in 
place, to walk so as to please God, as I im- 
agined ; but alas ! the vanities of this world 
are too strong for any but those "who are 
kept, by the mighty power of God, through* 
faith unto salvation ; " which power I knew 
nothing of, therefore my resolutions were 
soon broken, and I forgot my God. But 
soon after this he again put his afflicting 
hand on me, and laid me on a sick bed for 



22 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

many months; nor did I recover effectually 
for three years after. But still distress of 
mind, at times, followed me ; and, blessed be 
God, he did not wholly leave me without 
some convictions, till he brought me to know 
the truth as it is in Jesus. One particular 
instance of Providence I here recollect also ; 
which was, I had ordered my box of clothes 
to be left at the Star Inn at Maid-Stone in 
Kent, for the Cranbrook carrier to brmg to 
me ; but he said it was not there. So I went 
to search after it, fearing it was lost. At this 
time I was so poor in pocket that I had but 
one shilling left in all the world. However, 
I thought I should be able to go out and re- 
turn again in one day, therefore that shilling 
would bear my charges ; but, when I came to 
Maid-Stone, the box was not there ; I was 
obliged to go farther ; and, in my return, I 
found myself so very weak and low that I 
could not get back that day. The shilling 
was gone, my strength was gone, and the 
weather was very wet and cold ; night, too, 
began to draw on apace, and at this time I 
was two miles from Maid-Stone, which was 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 23 

fourteen from Cranbrook. While I was 
thinking of, and mourning over, my miserable 
situation, I thought if I were one that feared 
and loved God, as others in olden time had 
done, I might have any thing at his hands ; 
but as for me, I had made him my enemy by 
sin, and therefore he would take no notice of 
me, nor of anybody else, in our days, for par- 
sons and people were all wicked alike. Pres- 
ently after this it came suddenly on my mind 
to go out of the foot-path, which led through 
the fields, to go into the horse-road, though 
at the same time the foot-path was by far the 
best. I had been in the road scarcely a 
minute before I cast my eye on the ground, 
and there lay a sixpence. I took it up ; and 
before I had walked many steps farther, 
there lay a shilling also. I took that up, and 
it supplied my necessities at that time. 
These manifold providences and answers to 
prayer, did, at times, deeply impress my mind 
that God had some regard for me ; but when 
sin was committed all these thoughts were 
blasted. 

However, I never could entirely, after this 



24 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

time, get rid of all my thoughts about the 
awful day of judgment — the dreadful consid- 
eration of an endless eternity — the tremen- 
dous tribunal of God — the woful state of a 
guilty sinner before him — the certain con- 
quest of triumphant death and certain ap- 
proach to God's bar — the wretched figure 
that a guilty soul would make when all his 
secret and open sins were exposed to God, 
angels, and men, — and the miserable punish- 
ment which souls must feel who have their 
doom fixed in the gloomy receptable of the 
damned ; these things were, at times, upper- 
most in my thoughts; and though I pursued 
many pleasures in order to stifle them, yet I 
had felt enough to fix a lasting conviction of 
the truth of them upon my soul. 

Having wandered about for some years in 
this solitary way, '^seeking rest and finding 
none," it happened that I once went to work 
at Darnbury Park, in Essex, for one 'Squire 
Fitch. I had been there but a few days be- 
fore I fell sick, and was carried to the sign of 
the Bell, where nobody knew me, and with 
only two shillings in my pocket ; but Provi- 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 25 

dence sent an old widow, whose name was 
Shepherd, and whose deceased husband had 
been a butcher. This woman, being much 
of a doctress, doctored me, nursed me, 
watched with me, and fed me, though she 
never saw me before or since, nor had she 
any thing for her trouble, and yet took as 
much care of me as if I had been her own 
child. A few years ago I was determined to 
go down and see her, and restore her fourfold 
for her labor, and tell her what God had done 
for me ; but, upon inquiry, I found that she 
had been dead about three months before my 
arrival. 

I do not remember any other particular 
providence until I was married, when my 
wife and I took ready-furnished lodgings at 
Mortlake, in Surrey, where God smote my 
conscience effectually. It so happened that 
I fell lame, having received a wrench in my 
loins, which rendered me incapable of labor 
for many days. During this time our money 
was all gone, and we were but strangers in 
the place, having been in it but about half a 
year. After I began to recover a little, there 



26 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

fell a deep snow on the ground, which pre- 
vented my working for many days. Here 
Providence suffered us to know what it was 
to want. We had one child, about five or 
six months old, which was our first-born. It 
happened one morning early that my wife 
asked me for the tinder-box, seemingly in a 
great fright, crying out, '' I wonder the poor 
child has not waked all night." She lighted 
the candle and took up the child ; and behold 
it was dead, and as black as a coal ! It went 
off in a convulsive fit, as five more have done 
since, all of whom turned black also. Here 
Providence appeared again ; for, about three 
or four months before this death happened, a 
gentleman, in whose garden I at times had 
wrought, desired me to look after his horse 
in the country while he was in town, for 
which I was to have one shilling per week. 
The very day on which the child died the 
gentleman came down from London, and I 
got my money of him for looking after the 
horse, which just served to bury the poor 
infant. My lameness, poverty, distress of 
mind, the sufferings of my wife, loss of my 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 27 

child, and the sense of God's wrath, were the 
most complicated distresses I had ever felt. 
From this time spiritual convictions began to 
plough so deep in my heart as to make way 
for the word of eternal life ; which brought 
me experimentally to know "the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent." 
And if God should spare my life, and give 
me time, I may acquaint the world of the 
whole dealings of God with my soul in a 
treatise by itself ; but in this I intend treat- 
ing chiefly of the providences of God, lest 
the book swell too big for the poor to pur- 
chase. 

I do not remember any particular provi- 
dence attending me till about three or four 
years after, when I was brought savingly to 
believe in Jesus Christ for life and salvation. 
At this time I dwelt in a ready-furnished 
lodging at Sunbury in Middlesex, where my 
eldest daughter, now living, fell sick at about 
five or six months old, and was wasted to a 
skeleton. We had a doctor to attend her, 
but she got worse and worse. Having lost 
our first child, this was a dear idol to us ; and 



2S THE BANK OF FAITH. 

I suppose it lay as near my heart as poor 
Isaac did to the heart of Abraham. How- 
ever, it appeared as if God was determined 
to bereave us of her, for he brought her even 
to death's door. My wife and I have sat up 
with her night after night, watching the cra- 
dle, expecting every breath to be her last, for 
two or three weeks together. At last I asked 
the doctor if he thought there was any hope 
of her life. He answered. No ; he would not 
flatter me ; she would surely die. This dis- 
tressed me beyond measure ; and, as he told 
me he could do no more for her, I left my 
lodging-room, went to my garden in the even- 
ing, and in my little tool-house wrestled hard 
with God in prayer for the life of the child ; 
but upon these conditions : that if my re- 
quest was granted, and she should live to 
arrive at the full stature in life, and in future 
times turn wicked, and be damned for sin, 
and that my earnest prayer should be the 
cause of it, I besought God not to regard my 
petition for the child, though she was as dear 
to me as my own life. I went home satisfied 
that God had heard me, and in three days 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 29 

the child was as well as she is now, and ate 
as heartily, only her flesh was not perfectly 
restored. This effectually convinced me 
that all things were possible with God. 



30 THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER II. 

I HAD now dwelt about fourteen months at 
Sunbury, and had served a gentleman in the 
capacity of a gardener at twelve shillings 
per week. The gentleman informed me he 
purposed to keep his carriage, and intended 
that his driver should work in the garden ; 
therefore he should only hire a man now and 
then a day, but should not keep a gardener 
constantly. I was, in consequence, dis- 
charged from my work ; but had the liberty 
offered me of staying till I could get employ- 
ment elsewhere. I believe my master often 
saw the felicity of my mind, and the wisdom 
that God had given me by the answers 
I was enabled to give to his various ques- 
tions. Grace carries many rays of majesty 
with it, though it take up its abode in a beg- 
gar. However, I thought this world was his 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 31 

god, therefore I refused his offer, as Abra- 
ham did the present that was offered him by 
the king of Sodom ; that is, I would take 
nothing that was his, " from a thread even to 
a shoe latchet." 

After I had been three weeks out of 
employment I heard of a place at Ewell, in 
Surrey ; which I went after, and engaged in. 
It was with a gentleman that manufactured 
gunpowder. I agreed for eleven shillings per 
week in the summer, and ten shillings in the 
winter ; and procured a ready -furnished room 
in an old thatched house on Ewell-Marsh ( if 
with propriety it might be called a furnished 
room ) at two shillings a week. I was obliged 
to pawn all my best clothes in order to de- 
fray our expenses, owing to my being out 
of employment, and to hire a cart to 
carry my personal effects (which were but 
few ) to Ewell. When the cart set us down 
on Ewell-Marsh, on Monday morning, and I 
had paid the hire of it, I had the total sum of 
tenpence halfpenny left, to provide for my- 
self, my wife and child, till the ensuing Sat- 
urday night ! But though I were thus poor, 



32 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

yet I knew God had made me rich in faith ; 
and these words came on my mind with 
power : '' He multiplied the loaves and 
fishes to feed five thousand men, besides 
women and children." We went on our 
knees, and turned the account of that mira- 
cle into prayer, beseeching the Almighty to 
multiply what we had, or to send relief 
another way, as his infinite wisdom thought 
most proper. The next evening my land- 
lord's daughter and son-in-law came up to see 
their mother, with whom I lodged, and 
brought some baked meat, which they had 
just taken out of their oven, and brought for 
me and my wife to sup along with them. 
These poor people knew nothing of us, nor 
of our God. The next day in the evening 
they did the same, and kept sending victuals 
or garden stuff to us all the week long. We 
had not made our case known to any but 
God ; nor did we appear ragged, or like peo- 
ple in want ; no, we appeared better in dress 
than even those who relieved us ; but God 
sent an answer to our prayer by them, who 
knew not at the same time what they were 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 33 

about, nor did I tell them till some months 
after. While we were at supper, I enter- 
tained them with spiritual conversation 
After supper I went to prayer with them, and 
prayed most earnestly for them. And God 
answered it ; for he sent the woman home 
deeply convicted that night ; nor did her 
convictions abate till she was brought to see 
Christ crucified in the open vision of gospel 
faith, and to receive peace and pardon from 
Christ for herself. Some time after this 
God began to work upon the husband also ; 
and then I related the fore-cited circum- 
stance ; at the hearing of which he told how 
it was impressed on his mind that I was in 
want of victuals, and his wife found fault 
with him for thinking so, and bringing it to 
me, saying, '' The people are better to pass 
than we are.*' But he contradicted her, and 
insisted on her doing as he desired. 

I found that the small pittance of eleven 
shillings per week ( as I paid two shillings 
for a ready-furnished lodging) would amount 
very slowly towards the getting my clothes 
put of pawn, which, with the interest, 



34 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

amounted to near forty shillings, and which I 
was loath to lose. It came into my mind to 
search my Bible, to see if any instruction for 
faith could be got about this matter. 1 
turned to these words, '' There is a lad here 
which hath five barley loaves and two fishes ; 
but what are they among so many .^ " I asked 
my wife if she had ever ate barley bread. She 
said, ''Yes, in Dorsetshire." I told her I 
never had eaten it, but the poor Saviour and 
his apostles had ; and I supposed it was be- 
cause ( speaking after the manner of men ) 
they could get no better food. And, as God 
saw it necessary to keep us in a state of deep 
poverty, it ill became us to complain, or to 
refuse the m.eanest diet, seeing he had 
blessed us with an assured hope of heaven 
hereafter. She said she was willing if I was. 
So she went to a farmer to ask him to sell 
her a bushel of barley. His reply was, that 
he sold his barley by the quarter, or load, to 
malsters, for making malt ; and should not 
trouble himself with measuring such a small 
quantity. So she went to a corn-chandler in 
Ewell, and asked for the same article, whose 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 35 

answer was, *' I have only the refuse of the 
barley, or tail corn, which I sell for swine 
and fowls. '* My wife told him that would 
do ; but did not inform him for what use it 
was intended. This was ground at the mill, 
and was very cordially received by us, as the 
love of God, which we enjoyed in our hearts, 
more than counterbalanced all the poverty 
we labored under ; for I well knew it was 
decreed by God himself that his people 
should have tribulation in this world, but in 
Christ Jesus they should have peace. And 
love made the yoke easy and the burden 
light ; for, if at any time a murmuring 
thought entered my mind, it was soon 
quelled by considering that Christ lived on 
the alms of his poor followers, and that he 
was worse off than either the foxes or the 
birds ; as it is written, ** The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but 
the Son of man hath not where to lay his 
head. '' This has often made my heart yearn 
within me, silenced all my murmurings, and 
dissolved my soul in gospel gratitude. 

My wife and I now kept house at a very 



36 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

cheap rate : two shillings and sixpence per 
week carried us through tolerably well. As 
for the world's dainties, we were satisfied with- 
out them ; for we knew that the grace of 
God had enabled us to choose that good part 
which shall never be taken from us, therefore 
patience had, in a manner, her perfect work. 
We soon saved upwards of twenty shillings ; 
with which, on the Saturday night, I set off to 
Kingston to get some of my clothes out of 
pawn, leaving money in the hands of my wife 
to get half a bushel of barley. It so hap- 
pened that the apparel which I went to 
redeem came to so much, with the interest, 
that I had not any money left to bring home. 
This was a great trial to us, because our 
poor little girl, who had been but lately 
weaned, had nothing to carry her through the 
week but bare barley cakes ; and, though she 
would eat barley, yet I could not endure 
to see her live on that only. On the 
Monday following I went heavily to work, 
and very much distressed to know how 
my poor little one was to live. I reflected 
with indignation on myself for parting with 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 37 

my money, thinking I had better have gone 
without my clothes than have exposed my 
poor little one to want the necessaries of life. 
But, as I went over a bridge that led to my 
work, I cast my eye on the right hand side, 
and there lay a very large eel on the mud by 
the river side, apparently dead. I caught 
hold of it, and soon found it was only asleep. 
With difficulty I got it safe out of the mud 
upon the grass, and then carried it home. 
My little one was very fond of it, and it 
richly supplied all her wants that day. But 
at night I was informed that the eel was all 
gone, so the next day afforded me the same 
distress and trouble as the preceding day had 
done. When going to my work, cruelly 
reflecting on myself for parting with all my 
money, just as I entered the garden gates I 
saw a partridge lie dead on the walk. I took 
it up, and found it warm. I carried it home, 
and it richly supplied the table of our little 
one that day. A few days after this my mas- 
ter told me he had found a partridge on the 
garden walk also, but that it stunk. I told 
him I had found one a little before that time. 



38 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

He said that two males had been fighting, 
and had killed each other, which was very 
common. But I was enabled to look higher. 

Carnal reason always traces every thing 
from God to second causes, and there leaves 
them floating upon uncertainties ; but faith 
traces them up to their first cause, and fixes 
them there ; by which means God*s hand is 
known, and himself glorified. I believe this 
battle between the plumed warriors was pro- 
claimed by the Lord; for, if a sparrow falls 
not to the ground without God's leave (as 
the scriptures declare), I can hardly think a 
partridge does. 

The third day arrived, and I was still in 
the same case as before. As I went to my 
work I saw a bird's nest in one of the shrubs ; 
which, upon examination, I found to be the 
nest of a large bird, with four young ones 
in it, just ready to fly. It was with much 
reluctance I stormed and plundered the little 
simple citadel — but necessity hath no law, 
therefore I was forced to rob the poor dam 
of her young, and leave her mourning 
and lamenting, while my young one lived 
upon hers. 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 39 

However, I found it was no sin in God*s 
sight. ** If a bird's nest chance to be before 
thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, 
whether they be young ones or eggs, and the 
dam sitting upon the young ones or upon the 
eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the 
young ; but thou shalt in any wise let the dam 
go, and take the young to thee, that it may be 
well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong 
thy days'' (Deut. xxii. 6, 7). 

These birds served for that day very well ; 
but the next day found me still unprovided 
as before, and brought forth fresh work for 
faith and prayer. However, the morrow still 
took thought for the things of itself; for, 
when I came to take the scythe in my hand 
to mow the short grass, I looked into the 
pond, and there I saw three very large carp 
lying on the water, apparently sick. When 
my master came to me I told him of it. He 
went and looked, and said they were dead ; 
and told me I might have them, if I would, 
for they were not in season. However, they 
came in due season to me. And I found, 
morning after morning, there lay two or 



40 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

three of these fish at a time, dead, just as I 
wanted them ; till I believe there was not 
one live fish remaining, six inches long, in 
that pond, which was near three hundred 
feet in length. 

While musing on, and admiring the tender 
care of my God in his providence, and won- 
dering what could move him thus to pity- 
such a sinner, who was so unworthy of his 
grace, mercy and truth, as well as of his 
providential regard, these words came to my 
mind : '' He turned their water into blood, 
and slew their fish" (Ps. cv, 39). My mas- 
ter told me he thought it was the heat of the 
sun that killed them, and I believe it was ; 
but I knew that the sun and his heat were 
both from God, and that the sun shined in 
due season for me. And it much amazed me 
to see God so kind, even in temporal matters. 
It led me to search his blessed Word for sim- 
ilar circumstances. And, when I read of the 
distress and simple covenant of Jacob, of 
God's changing the color of Laban's cattle, 
that they might change their master, and 
of God's blessing his simple means of peel- 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 41 

ing the rods, that the pregnant dams might 
look at them and bring forth accordingly, 
and so setting the dams a longing to bring 
forth a motley progeny like the rods, which 
he set in the troughs, and the dream of the 
speckled ram begetting the spotted inheri- 
tance of faith, I could not help weeping 
and admiring the unmerited goodness of my 
God in setting the birds of the air to war, 
sending the sunbeams with such a hostile 
force as to slay the inhabitants of the floods, 
suffering the eel to sleep till the hand 
of the necessitous had entangled him, and 
directing my eyes to the little lodgment of 
birds when all other supplies seemed to be 
cut off. It so operated on my mind that I 
cannot describe the humility, compunction, 
love, joy, and peace, which I felt. Oh, the 
goodness of God to the children of men ! I 
evidently saw that, both in providence and 
grace, God is the same to us as he was to the 
saints in days of old, and that they had no 
preeminence over us in the covenant of grace 
at all ; but that Jesus Christ was the same 
yesterday that he is to-day, and will be the 



42 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

same for ever. Let not these providences 
beget a notion in the weak of the flock of any 
partiality in God to me in particular, know- 
ing that *'God is no respector of persons ; 
but in every nation those that fear him and 
work righteousness are accepted of him/' 

I found that my pay would hardly support 
my family with comfort ; and it came into 
my mind that I could mend shoes if I tried. 
I accordingly sent my wife to Kingston to 
buy me some materials for this business ; 
upon which I began, and made a decent profi- 
cient in a very little time. This helped me so 
much that I got all my things out of pawn, 
and kept myself entirely out of debt. But it 
happened one night that my wife complained 
to me that she had nothing for the child but 
barley cake. I told her I had a job of cob- 
bling to do, and would sit up that night 
to finish it, that in the morning the work 
might be carried home, when peradventure 
she might get the money. So we sat up and 
worked together till between eleven and 
twelve o'clock, when I heard a person call at 
my window. I went down, and found several 



THE BAKK OF FAITH. 43 

men on horseback ( to appearance they were 
smugglers ), who inquired their way to Maiden 
Mills. I went a little way to show them, 
for which one of them gave me a shilling. 
On receiving it my very hair moved upon my 
head at the reflection of the daily providences 
of God. I mention this because God says 
that the gold and the silver are his ; that it is 
he only who maketh poor and maketh rich ; 
and that it is he who bringeth low and lifteth 
up. These things so endeared God to me 
that I often called him my Bank, my Banker, 
and my blessed Overseer ; and earnestly 
begged that he would condescend to be my 
tutor, my master, and my provider, and 
never leave me in the hands of mortals, either 
for tuition, protection, or for temporal sup- 
plies. I no longer envied the rich in this 
world ; for, if they are gracious, they only see 
one side of God's face, having an independ 
ent stock in hand ; and, if graceless, they are 
of all flesh the mo§t miserable. I clearly 
perceived that the most eminent saints in 
the Bible were brought into low circum- 
stances, as Jacob, David, Moses, Joseph, 



44 THE BANK OF FAITH 

Job, and Jeremiah, and all the apostles, in 
order that the hand of providence might be 
watched. 

When harvest came on, my wife informed 
me that she should go to gleaning, in order 
to pick up some wheat to make bread with. 
So we generally arose about three o'clock in 
the morning, and I gleaned with her till six, 
and then went to my work ; but she contin- 
ued till eight o'clock, then went home with 
her corn, ate her breakfast, got the child up 
from bed ( which all this time had been left 
alone), and then she went off for the day. 
At this time I had begun to preach at Ewell 
Marsh, which made no small stir that way; 
therefore the farmers drove my wife out of 
the fields, and the gleaners came about her 
like a shoal of small birds attending the fune- 
ral of a dead hawk, swearing that parson's 
wives should not glean there. *^What," said 
they, ''wives of the clergy go a gleaning!" 
I own it is not a good sign nor a good sight 
to see Levites gleaning ; but, if the blind 
guides steal the offerings of God, which 
should feed the Levites, the Levites then 
must work or starve. 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 45 

In Scripture a gospel minister is compared 
to an ox, so that he must take Christ's yoke, 
and learn to draw ; and, when his day's work 
is ended, he must tread out the corn, if re- 
quired; and, if God uses him to plough up 
the fallow ground of the heart, he must ex- 
pect to work hard and fare hard. To be a 
gospel laborer is a rare thing ; but to be a 
dumb dog, to lie at the bone and forget to 
bark, is very common. We read in Scripture 
of the oxen ploughing while the asses were 
feeding beside them (Job. i., 14). But still 
God's hand was seen ; for, if they drove her 
out of one field, she was surely directed into 
another, where she often found them carrying 
the corn ; and then she got the first and 
prime gleanings of the whole field. At six 
o'clock I went in search after her, and gleaned 
with her till nine, or as long as we could see 
an ear of corn. When I went after her I 
knew not where she was, nor how far she had 
been chased that day; but, whether she was 
one or two miles distant, I always went that 
road where my mind led me, and constantly 
went as straight to her as if I had actually 



46 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

known where she was, and never missed her 
track, but found her every night, the whole 
five weeks, whether she was east, west, north 
or south. And when I came I was enter- 
tained with an account of all the chasings 
her pursuers had given her, and how they 
had threatened to rob her of her corn. I 
told her Boaz was not in the field ; if he had 
been, he would not have served her so. It is 
true we use his words in our church service, 
*'The Lord be with you;" and the pious 
reapers reply, ''and with thy spirit," but this 
language is now quite out of fashion in our 
harvest fields. 

Notwithstanding their chasing the clergy- 
man's wife from field to field, she gleaned as 
much or more than Ruth of old did. As for 
our harvest, that was piled up on each side of 
our bed, which served instead of curtains. 
So we slept, defended with the staff of life, 
having all our tithes in our bed chamber 
(which, by the by, I believe was one of the 
smallest tithe-barns in Christendom). Our 
corn w^as threshed out in the chamber, and 
winnowed on the marsh, a sheet serving for a 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 47 

barn floor. The whole quantity of our wheat, 
when measured, amounted to four bushels 
and a quarter, exclusive of some peas and a 
little barley. My wife threshed out the corn 
and baked the bread, and I paid her so much 
per loaf as an encouragement to her future 
industry, and to buy her such necessaries as 
she wanted. 

In the following winter the Lord sent a 
very deep snow, which lay a considerable 
time on the ground. Our wheat was now of 
great use to us, as it supplied us with bread 
for two or three months. But we were short- 
ly brought into another strait through this 
snow. We used to buy fagots of our landlady 
to burn (being all the fuel we could get at 
that time), who one night informed us that 
she had but ten fagots left, which she must 
keep for herself, as there was no likelihood 
of the snow going away. Therefore she said 
she could sell us no more. To this I replied 
that, if she was in trouble for fear of suffer- 
ing with the cold, when she had so much 
wood by her, surely we had much more cause 
to fear who had a young child. However, I 



48 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

begged of God that night to take away the 
snow, or send us something to burn, that our 
little one might not perish with the cold; 
and the next morning the snow was all gone. 
God had sent out his word and melted it ; he 
had caused his wind to blow, and the water 
to flow (Ps. cxlvii. 1 8). 

After some time our wheat was gone, and 
we were obliged to eat barley again ; and, 
having paid away our money to redeem our 
clothes, we began to get very short of other 
necessary apparel, which, however, we soon 
retrieved ; for, as I worked by day, cobbled at 
night, and lived upon barley, we kept our- 
selves out of debt, and tolerably decent in 
clothes. But this living on barley was at- 
tended with very bad consequences ; for, as 
I had never been used to it before, and now 
living almost entirely upon it, without mix- 
ing it with wheat, it threw a violent humor 
into my eyes, and for some months I was in 
danger of losing my sight ; but, by using one 
simple thing or other, they got better. My 
second daughter brought the same humor into 
the world with her, and both myself and the 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 49" 

child had it, more or less, for some years, 
though not so violently as at first. I have 
often viewed this affliction on the child with 
great grief ; but, in answer to prayer, God 
healed her eyes and mine too, so that our 
sight was perfectly recovered. 

When harvest came on again we went to 
gleaning as before, and got no less than five 
bushels of corn; but my wife was pursued as. 
formerly, for my continuing to preach had 
alarmed and much offended almost the whole 
parish, therefore they were more fierce in 
pursuing her. On the other hand, some 
were afraid of going near her, lest they 
should catch a religious infection ; it being 
reported abroad that there was something of 
a power that seized upon them, and that, if 
we once got them to hear what we had to 
say, there was no getting away from our reli- 
gion, as this secret something that seized 
them held them so fast that they must imme- 
diately change their own religion. I have 
known some men whom I have met go quite 
out of the path, and take a circle in the field, 
rather than pass me on the road; just as if 



50 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

that secret something could not seize them 
while walking on the grass as well as on the 
foot-path. 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 51 



CHAPTER III. 

I NOW began to lose favor with my master ; 
having preached among the poor people till 
some of them refused to work on the Lord's 
day. Wherefore he inquired into the cause 
and was informed that the gardener had been 
preaching to them against profaning the 
Lord's day, which was the reason why some 
would not work on that day. Others mur- 
mured because they were compelled to labor 
while some were exempted. This provoked 
him much; and he said he should expect me 
to work in the garden on the Lord's day. I 
told him I did not choose to do that. He 
then swore at me, saying that, if I did not, I 
should not work for him. I replied that I 
would not, if I lost my employment ; so, in a 
few days after, he told me, with several im- 
precations, to work no more for him. He 



52 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

owed me a trifle for a few days' work ; but as 
he did not offer to pay me, I never asked him 
for it. I was informed that he expected me 
to come back with a suppHant knee ; but I 
was determined that I would not sell my con- 
science for a loaf of barley bread, as it had 
cost my Saviour so much to purge it ; there- 
fore I set off for Thames Ditton, and carried 
coals in the river for fourteen months at ten 
shillings per week, and preached during that 
time on the Lord's day, and one evening lec- 
ture in the week. All this tim^ I suffered 
much both in body and mind, and found that 
the iniquity of those who wrought with me 
began to harden my heart ; therefore I was 
determined to leave that situation, and go to 
my old business again. I got three or four 
days' work at Moulsey ; when a farmer came 
to my m.aster, and told him to discharge me, 
having begun to preach out of doors. It was 
here that I committed this great offence of 
preaching Jesus Christ in the highway. On 
this account I was turned out of employment, 
and remained so for three weeks ; during 
which time a gentleman at Mitcham sent for 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 53 

me to come over there the week following, to 
preach in their meeting, as he had long enter- 
tained a great desire of hearing me. 

A few days before this a gentleman had 
given me an old black coat and waistcoat ; 
which, being very large, made coat, waistcoat 
and breeches for me. So on the day appoint- 
ed I put on my parsonic attire, which was the 
first time I ever appeared clad in that color, 
my usual appearance being more like the 
ploughman or the fisherman ; but now I ap- 
peared in the external habit of a priest. And 
surely the good hand of my God was with 
me, and I went and delivered my message in 
his name. As it had been reported that a 
coal-heaver was coming to preach, there were 
a great many people gathered together to 
hear me. After I had finished my discourse, 
a lady came to me and gave me a new book, 
and blessed me ; a gentleman, too, put a let- 
ter in my hand, laying an injunction upon me 
not to open it till I got home ; in which I 
found enclosed a guinea and four shillings, 
with these words written: '*Take this as 
from the hand of the Lord, for the laborer is 
worthy of his hire" (Luke x. 17). 



54 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

These kind providences of God did wonder- 
fully endear the Lord to me, and brought me 
to live by the faith of him for a supply of all 
my wants ; and indeed I was obliged to do it, 
for I could get no employment. And, though 
I had preaching enough for a bishop, yet I 
had nothing coming in to live upon for so do- 
ing ; my flocks were as poor as myself, at 
least the generality of them ; and my family 
still continued increasing. 

In this dilemma, a professor of the gospel, 
who was by trade a shoemaker, asked me one 
day to come to him and learn to make chil- 
dren's shoes; which at last I agreed to, and 
learned to make them (though in a very 
rough manner) in a short space of time. 

I now took my work home to my house, 
and wrought there ; and a few poor journey- 
men, who attended my ministry, and were 
single men (and therefore not so poor as 
their pastor), gave me some tools ; till at 
length I became a shoemaker, and worked at 
it for my bread, while the love of Christ 
constrained me to preach for the good of 
souls, without making the gospel a burden to 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 56 

any. I was now in as bad a state as poor 
Paul, who preached the gospel freely, and 
made tents for his livelihood ; his own hands 
ministering to his necessities, while his 
tongue was ministering to the necessities of 
thousands. If he had preached up heathen 
morality he need not have fared so hard, for 
the world loves that, and the preachers of it. 
The Saviour says, ''The world loves her 
own ; and she never serves her own children 
as she does the children of God." 

As I began this business so late in life, I 
was a very slow hand at it ; and therefore was 
obliged to turn my help-meet into a shop-mate; 
that is, I taught my wife to close the shoes 
which I made ; and both of us could earn 
about eight shillings per week. I had now 
five times a week to preach constantly; on 
which account I was forced to lay the Bible 
in a chair by me, and now and then read a 
little, in order to furnish myself with matter 
for the pulpit. It sometimes happened that 
I was under sore temptations and desertions ; 
the Bible too appeared a sealed book, inso- 
much that I could not furnish myself with a 



56 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

text. Nor durst I leave my work in order to 
study or read the Bible ; if I did, my little 
ones would soon want bread. My business 
would also run very badly at those times. I 
therefore found the ministry of the gospel to 
be work enough for any man, without leaving 
the Word of God to serve tables. 

After I had been about eight or ten months 
at this trade, my master failed in business, and 
nobody else would employ me. I was now a 
fortnight or more out of work, which sorely 
tried me indeed ; for it so happened that we 
were forced to put our little ones to bed one 
night without a supper, and their dinner was 
a very scanty one. When they saw me look 
in the cupboard, and shut the door again 
without giving them any thing, they lisped 
out some very pathetic, though broken ac- 
cents, expressive of want, which touched my 
parental feelings very sorely, and took away 
my rest for that night. In the morning I 
got up and went out, but where to go I knew 
not ; and I could not endure the thought of 
staying at home to see my little ones want 
bread. But these words were sweet and suit- 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 67 

able to me : " He hath chosen the poor of 
this world, rich in faith and heirs of the king- 
dom/* And 1 well knew it was ^^ easier for a 
camel to go through the needle's eye than for 
a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 
In this miserable situation I knew not where 
to go. If I left off preaching, and run from 
the work (as Jonah did), I should deny the 
Lord that bought me. Though I was willing 
to work, yet none would employ me on ac- 
count of my religion ; and if I stayed at home 
my little ones were crying for bread. Indeed, 
I should often have run from the work of 
God, had not his terrors stood on my con- 
science in battle array against me. At this 
time no book could suit me but the Lamenta- 
tions of Jeremiah. To these I constantly 
fled for comfort ; for, like him, I often was 
for running away, but could not ; therefore 
God fulfilled his word, ''They shall be my 
people, and shall not depart from me." I 
went that morning as far as Kingston, but 
where I was to find relief I knew not ; how- 
ever, just as I came into the town, it suddenly 
came in my mind to go to Mr. Chapman, 



58 THE BAXK or FAITH. 

then living on Hounslow-Heath, a person 
who had known me for some years, even be- 
fore either of us knew the Lord, and who 
was called by grace about the same time that 
I was. He had often invited me to come 
and visit him, wherefore I now obeyed the 
impulse which I felt, and accordingly went 
over Kino;ston brid2;e directlv to Hounslow- 
Heath, where I found him and his wife at 
home. I was, however, determined not to 
make my deep distress known to them, but 
intended to watch the good hand of my God 
in this journey. The good man and his wife 
received me very affectionately ; and, after 
kindly entertaining me, loaded me home with 
many simple dainties for the children, though 
at that time they knew not how I had left 
them. And it came to pass, when I depart- 
ed, that the good man walked two miles with 
me, and on the road offered me a guinea, 
which I refused, saying that, if he would 
give me half a guinea, I would accept it, pro- 
vided it was with his wife's knowledge. He 
said it was. So I took the half-guinea, won- 
dering how I should pay the fare of the 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 69 

bridge to get home, fearing they might not 
be able to give me change, but I cast my 
eyes on the ground, and there lay a penny, 
which served to pay the toll of the bridge. 
So I got safe home, and was received with 
a hearty welcome. And thus I made a better 
voyage of it than Naomi, who went out full 
and returned empty. 

As I had lost all my employment in shoe- 
making, I was obliged to try another branch 
of business. I therefore commenced cobbling. 
But as none would employ me in this busi- 
ness except those who attended my ministry, 
sometimes I had work and sometimes I had 
none. So that I found this branch of busi- 
ness attended with many inconveniences ; 
for it often happened at the beginning of the 
week that I had a little to do, and at the lat- 
ter end rather more than I could get done ; 
which, with sitting up till twelve o'clock on 
the Saturday night, and having eleven miles 
to walk, and three times to preach on the 
Lord's day, rendered my labors too hard for 
me, as my living was very inconsiderable. 
However, God made this circumstance of 



60 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

great use to my soul, therefore it was one of 
the all-things that work together for good. 

I had naturally a very great flow of spirits, 
so that this poor way of living gradually 
brought on me an inward weakness, at- 
tended with the loss of appetite, which ren- 
dered me incapable of taking that nourish- 
ment my labors necessarily required. I 
could drink nothing but water or small beer 
for some years together, w^hich at times 
brought me so low that I was obliged to gird 
my stomach with a handkerchief as tight as 
I could bear it, in order to gather strength to 
enable me to deliver three discourses a day. 
At length I got so low that one pint of good 
small beer rendered me incapable of walking 
steady ; and Satan violently tempted me on 
this head. Some of my friends, who saw the 
case I was in, fearing that I should shortly 
come to an end, labored hard to dissuade me 
from this mode of living ; but in vain. Some- 
times they would mix my small beer with a 
little ale ; which I could immediately detect, 
and was apt to view them my enemies for so 
doing ; but they did it through fear that I 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 61 

should throw myself into a consumption, and 
that one little branch of the church of Christ 
might thereby sustain a loss. For five years 
I went on in this manner, till there was 
scarce one step between me and death. But 
I gradually got rid of this habit, as the Lord 
appeared more precious to me in a way of 
providence, and God sanctified it to the good 
of my soul ; for this poverty and bad living 
brought many infirmities on me, which have 
at times lain as a canker-worm at the root of 
my natural levity. I now began clearly to 
see that God intended to establish me as a 
preacher of the gospel, by his opening many 
doors for me, and because many souls were 
awakened by my instrumentality. Blessed 
be God, such shall be my joy and crown of 
rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. 

I found it, however, impossible to preach 
five or six times a week, and carry on the 
business of cobbling at the same time ; espe- 
cially as it generally came in so fast at the 
latter end of the week, a time when I want- 
ed to study the Scriptures, in order to fur- 
nish myself with matter for the Lord's day. 



62 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

Wherefore I determined to give up this em- 
ployment, and continue in the work of God 
only, whatever I might suffer by it. In con- 
sequence of this resolution, I went to a poor 
cobbler, who lived in the same place with 
me, and to him I gave my kit of tools, threw 
myself entirely on the propitious arm of kind 
Providence, and gave myself wholly to the 
ministry of the Word and prayer. 

At this time I had left my ready-furnished 
lodgings, and rented a little cottage at three 
pounds eighteen shillings per annum; and 
we had about half as much furniture to put 
in it as a porter would carry at one load. 

Having thus left off my cobbling business, 
Providence exercised my faith and patience 
very sharply at times, and suffered me to get 
a little behind-hand in the world, which 
caused me to cry and pray day and night, for 
I knew that the cause in which I had em- 
barked would be exposed to contempt if I 
contracted a debt and could not pay it. And 
though this is not felt by the rich, yet it lies 
heavy on the mind of the poor, honest Chris- 
tian. But in answer to prayer, God sent to 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 63 

my house a gentleman of great property, 
very m.uch noted in the religious world for 
liberality, who, after he had stayed with me 
a few hours, ordered his carriage, and at his 
departure gave me five guineas, at which I 
was amazed, he being a stranger to me, and 
one whom I had never before seen. This 
served to buy me some few household neces- 
saries, as also to pay off the debt which I had 
contracted. Oh, who would not choose the 
precious life of dependency on God, . when 
the tender regard of Providence in our pov- 
erty is so clearly seen in those rich supplies 
which are poured forth in answer to the sim- 
ple, though powerful, prayer of faith ! 

At this time I stood in great need of linen, 
and of a new suit of clothes, my old black 
ones being almost worn out. I often begged 
this favor of God, agreeable to his own word. 
*^If God so clothe the grass, which to-day is, 
and to-morrow is cast into the oven, will he 
not much more clothe you, O ye of little 
faith .^" But God exercised my patience 
long, teaching me the necessity of importu- 
nity in prayer; and at last answered me by 



64 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

terrible things in righteousness ; for he sent 
a violent storm of persecution, which, from 
its proving intolerable, obliged me to seek 
redress from the law of the land, as I was 
legally licensed. My appeal, however, proved 
in vain ; for, upon the trial, my license proved 
an improper one, from the word teacher^ or 
preacher, being left out of it ; which was not 
my fault, as I had applied and procured it 
legally. I was now obliged to go to London 
and get another license. And here the an- 
swer to my former prayers appeared. I was 
obliged to tarry in town all night, and, as 
there was a person who had long wanted to 
see me ( not from any personal knowledge of 
me, but from various reports he had heard of 
the Lord's dealings with me ), I endeavored 
to find him out, and accordingly did. He re- 
ceived me very courteously, and kindly en- 
tertained me, at a time of my undergoing a 
sharp trial. ^^A man's own heart deviseth 
his way, but the Lord directeth his steps/' 

As answers to prayer now seemed to be 
wholly denied, my faith in God's providence 
began to fail. And in very deed I was deter- 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 65 

mined to leave my ministerial work, and go 
and settle at Guildford, where I thought I 
could get employment as a gardener, and 
preach to my little flock at Wooking on the 
Lord's day: But alas! ''there are many de- 
vices in a man's heart, but the counsel of the 
Lord that shall stand." However, in order 
to accomplish this with some degree of con- 
science, I endeavored to get a supply of min- 
isters for the various places I preached at. 
But all my efforts were in vain. And indeed 
there was little encouragement for any to un- 
dertake to supply them, as they were so dis- 
tant from London, and as it was in much op- 
position that the cause was carried on ; be- 
sides, there were neither tithes, offerings, 
nor surplice fees attending their labors. 
Those who undertook the work must have 
gone on this warfare entirely at their own 
expense. 

As I could not possibly get any assistance 
in my ministerial labors, I knew not how to 
go on, having no clothes fit to be seen in. I 
suffered, too, even for want of the common 
necessaries of life, for I had as much travel- 



66 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

ling and preaching as I was able to do, had I 
lived ever so well ; but being obliged to live 
very low, I was hardly able to go through the 
work in any shape. I was as bad off as poor 
Paul: I suffered hunger, cold and naked- 
ness. 

The good man whom I have before men- 
tioned, and at whose house I lodged that 
night, purposed that I should go into Sussex, 
to preach at the place of his nativity. I told 
him that the apparel I then had on was all 
the clothes I was possessed of, wherefore I 
was really not fit to be seen anywhere, and 
that I was likewise in debt. He asked me if 
I would stay and preach in one of his rooms 
in the evening to a few friends he would in- 
vite. I complied with his request, and accord- 
ingly preached, where three gentlemen gave 
me each a guinea. The good man also went 
to some of his friends, and made up the sum 
to nine guineas, with which I got proper 
clothing and other necessaries; and there 
was a little money left to pay some debts 
which I had contracted. Thus I went home 
with a full answer to my prayers, and in my 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 67 

second suit of parsonic attire. This circum- 
stance much encouraged my faith in God's 
providence, and caused me perpetually to beg 
of God to be my only provider, teacher and 
master; and that he would always direct my 
steps and supply my wants, and not leave me 
dependent on an arm of flesh. In my prayers 
I often made this my plea: that, as he had 
called me without the instrumentality of any 
preacher, and sent me out without the appro- 
bation or disapprobation of any one, and had 
in a way of providence opened many doors 
before me, and blessed my labors to the good 
of many souls, he would also let his provi- 
dence appear to me as I might stand in need 
of it — that I might not be burdened with 
cares about what I should eat or what I 
should drink, or wherewithal I should be 
clothed ; but that I might devote body, soul, 
time and talents to the glory of his name, 
and to the good of his chosen. These peti- 
tions God has been pleased to answer in some 
measure ever since. '^I have been young, 
and now am old ; yet have I not seen the 
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging 
bread." 



68 THE BAXK OF FAITH. 

At my return from London, I could not 
help making my boast of God, even in the 
pulpit. And, as my persecutors had burnt 
me in effigy a little while before, I told my 
audience that God had sent me a new suit of 
clothes as it were out of the ashes, my perse- 
cutors having burnt a suit, with which they 
clothed the effi2:v, not much unlike mv old 
one. Seeing me thus clad was a great grief 
to the opposers of God ; they were sorr}' to 
see any raised up to seek the welfare of the 
children of Israel. 

I had now a pleasing gale of prosperity for 
some time, but shortly after another cloud of 
frowning providences gathered thick over my 
head, and kept me long in suspense, until I 
had run fourteen or fifteen pounds in debt; 
more by ten pounds than I had ever owed 
before. But, as my faith in Providence had 
been sharply tried, and was strengthened by 
these trials, a greater burden was laid upon 
me. And thus I found faith's task to be al- 
ways proportionable to her strength. In the 
midst of this trouble, the little flock at Wook- 
ing desired me to take the charge of, and to 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 69 

be ordained over them ; to which I consent- 
ed, and gave my promise. On my return 
home afterwards, however, Satan violently 
tempted me, and unbelief and carnal reason 
fell in with the temptation. It was for hav- 
ing refused some calls in the country, where 
the people would have supported me as their 
pastor if I would have accepted their call ; 
but now, as I had agreed to take the charge 
of a flock that could not support me, I should 
be for ever tied down from accepting any 
other call, that my family was still increasing, 
that I was deeply in debt, that my clothes 
were got as bad as ever, that my year was now 
out, and that my gracious master had not given 
me a new livery, nor was there any appear- 
ance of it. But, blessed be God, I had the 
inward recompense of a good conscience, be- 
cause I did not take the oversight of God's 
flock for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. 

Having waded some time in this dreadful 
flood, I began at length to reason, from past 
experience, that God had hitherto been gra- 
cious; and, as he had set me to work, I must 
look to him for my wages. But this Satan 



70 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

attempted to overthrow, by suggesting that I 
was never so much in debt before. Which I 
knew to be true ; so that my faith began to 
fail, and I mistrusted the providence of God. 
But these words came so sweet to my mind, 
and with so much power, that they bore down 
all that the tempter could suggest, ''Seek ye 
first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
ness, and all these things will be added unto 
you.'* ''A word spoken in due season is like 
apples of gold in pictures of silver.'' 

The next day, in the evening, I preached at 
Hammersmith ; and when I came down from 
the pulpit a gentleman desired me to call at 
his house, where he had ordered a tailor to 
measure me for a suit of clothes, of which he 
intended to make me a present. As soon as 
the words were out of his mouth the same 
Scripture recoiled with power on my mind, 
'' Seek ye the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness, and all these things shall be added 
unto you." I hung down my head and wept 
for joy at the goodness of my God to one 
who was so slow of heart to believe. In a 
few days my clothes were made, and I went 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 71 

and received them. This was one sharp blow 
to my unbeKef, and led me to see that God 
took care to order apparel for me as well as 
for Aaron and his sons. 

Now the principal and most difficult work 
of faith was to reconcile my mind as to the 
discharge of my large debt. And how this 
was to be done I knew not ; but this I knew, 
that I had not imprudently presumed on 
God*s providence, having contracted it merely 
to supply my wants ; and, as the Lord made 
me trust him for the fulfilment of his prom- 
ises, I was forced to get others to trust me 
till my faith could get her wages in. That I 
scored up my blessed Master, who, in his own 
time, always discharged my debts with honor. 
Thus God, who wrought a miracle to clear the 
debt of a poor widow by Elisha the prophet, 
will surely clear the just debts of his poor 
ministers. 



72 THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Soon after this my friend in London asked 
me, and I agreed, to preach at his house ; and 
on the day appointed I went, when he told 
me that he had consulted the managers of 
Margaret street chapel about my preaching 
there, to which they had agreed; and it was 
advertised that I should preach there that 
night. At this I was sorely offended, being 
very much averse to preaching in London, 
for several reasons. First, because I had 
been told it abounded so much with all sorts 
of errcrs that I was afraid of falling into 
them, there were so many that lay in wait to 
deceive. Secondly, because I had no learn- 
ing, and therefore feared I should not be able 
to deliver myself with any degree of propri- 
ety; and as I knew nothing of Greek or He- 
brew, nor even of the English grammar, that 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 73 

I should be exposed to the scourging tongue • 
of every critic in London. However, I 
preached that night, and soon after found 
myself induced, by sundry persuasions, to 
preach the word of God statedly in that very 
chapel. During many weeks I labored under 
much distress of mind, respecting my want of 
abilities to preach in this great metropolis. 
But God in due time removed that distress 
by condescending to bless his word, even 
from my mouth, and he was pleased to deliver 
a young man from a capital error by the first 
discourse I ever delivered at that place, 
which appeared not only a great encourage- 
ment to me at that time, but also a prelude 
to that future success which I might expect 
under God's promised blessing. The above 
mentioned young man is now a preacher of 
the gospel, and has been instrumental in call- 
ing others. So that I am become a grand- 
father from my first London discourse. 

Being a native of the Wild of Kent, which 
is none of the most polite parts of the world, 
I retained a good deal of my provincial dia- 
lect; and many of my expressions, to the ears 



74 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

of a grammarian, sounded very harsh and un- 
couth. This circumstance caused many un- 
sanctified critics to laugh and cavil at me. 
But, when God permitted me to drop promis- 
cuously into company with any of those who 
were so very learned, and they began to pour 
contempt on some of my expressions, I gen- 
erally found them very deficient in the work 
of the Spirit on their own souls ; and though 
some of them seemed very wise in gospel 
doctrines, yet I could easily find that their 
knowledge was borrowed from commentators, 
by their appearing great strangers to the ex- 
perience of them on their hearts, and also to 
the happy enjoyment of them, which I knew 
they would be able to give an account of, if 
they had received them wet with dew and 
warm with love from heaven, in answer to 
the prayer of faith. It is true that some 
have often confounded me in the sense and 
meaning of words, as also in the original 
texts, yet I found that I could as much con- 
found them in the sensible operations of the 
Holy Ghost, agreeable to the word of God ; 
and, by my own experience of the Spirit's 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 75 

work, could overthrow some expressions of 
theirs from the Hebrew language, especially 
those who labored to overthrow the divinity 
of the Son of God ; the manifestation of whom 
to my own soul, agreeable to his word, has 
enabled me to foil the most accomplished 
Arian I have ever yet contended with upon 
that point. The only way to prove Christ's 
divinity is to go to him when overwhelmed 
with guilt and horror, and to pray to him as 
the eternal God ; and, if he appear to honor 
our faith and to answer our prayers, and de- 
liver us from the wrath of God, the guilt of 
sin, the power of Satan, the fear of death, the 
curse of the law, and eternal damnation, and 
blesses us with pardon, peace, love and liber- 
ty, he shall be the eternal God of our soul's 
salvation, though Satan be the god of this 
unhallowed world. For, though the Arians 
talk of Christ as a stone of help, yet, if they 
allow him to be no more than a creature, 
they might as well call him a sandy founda- 
tion as a rock ; for all flesh is dust, and to 
dust it must return. If he had not been 
God, he certainly would have seen corruption, 



76 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

as well as other creatures have done; and 
that he was raised from the dead is not owing 
to his being man, but to his being God — 
*'put to death in the flesh, but quickened by 
the Spirit." His flesh was raised without 
seeing corruption, because he was the Son of 
God with power, and had immortality and 
eternal life in himself, as the self-existent 
and independent Jehovah. And God the 
Father prepared a body for him, and he will- 
ingly came and took it on him to do his Fath- 
er's will, so he wore that fleshly garment till 
he had finished the work his Father gave him 
to do, and then dipped it in blood, and sanc- 
tified himself for our sakes, that he might 
sanctify us ; he then laid it down for our life, 
and raised it again for our justification ; took 
it at last to heaven as the first fruits of them 
that sleep; and appears in it as in an eternal 
temple, wherein dwells the glorious Sheki- 
nah, or ''all the fulness of the Godhead bod- 
ily." All our access to God is only through 
that rent vail of his flesh ; and he who allows 
Christ to be no more than a creature, denies 
all the intrinsic glory of the eternal Godhead 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 77 

that ever dwelt between the cherubims, and 
condemns every hoping soul that ever took 
shelter under the shadowing wings of the 
Almighty. 

Upon the whole, I found my ignorance of 
Greek and Hebrew to be no impediment in 
the way of the Spirit of power, as I firmly 
believed that God had written his law on my 
heart ; and I am persuaded that what the 
Holy Ghost writes on the mind of man is al- 
ways agreeable to the original text ; and that, 
if there are any errors in our English transla- 
tion, the blessed Spirit will never impress the 
minds of God's elect from a false copy, nor 
appear as the broad seal of heaven to ratify 
a lie. No; '*he shall guide you into all 
truth, and he shall glorify me." 

But I shall now return to my former sub- 
ject, and inform my reader how my faith 
managed the great debt before mentioned, 
God having long exercised my faith and pa- 
tience, until I began to despair of ever getting 
it paid. It so happened that a capital error 
crept into the church of God at Horsham in 
Sussex ; and some friends sent for me, as it 



78 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

was a place where I had often preached. In- 
deed it was the first place that I ever preached 
at in a public manner. I therefore complied 
with their request, and in my way thither was 
blessed with one of the most comfortable and 
lively frames of mind that I had ever enjoyed. 
This frame was attended with a most delight- 
ful chain of heavenly meditations, which, 
when I arrived at my journey's end, I com- 
mitted to paper, and sent to a friend in town. 
This circumstance, under God, paved a way 
for my being invited to preach at Chelsea, 
where I delivered a discourse from this text : 
^^ Children, have ye any meat?" I was 
afterward informed that a confirmed Arian 
came out of curiosity to hear me ; and, though 
I knew nothing of it, I was led in the course 
of my sermon to be very severe against the 
destructive tenets of that sect, in consequence 
of which he went home convinced; and upon 
his arrival there was seized with a fit of ill- 
ness, during which Christ was graciously 
pleased to manifest his atonement to his con- 
science. When he felt the power, he cried 
out, *'The darkness is now past, and the true 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 79 

light shineth." He continued in this divine 
ecstasy till his body dropped into the jaws of 
death, which was about a fortnight after the 
above discourse was delivered. Thus God 
fulfils his word, '^ Those that erred in spirit 
shall come to understanding, and those that 
murmured shall learn doctrine/' 

But to return to my subject. A gentle- 
man, famous for a liberal turn of mind, asked 
me to lodge at his house, with which I gladly 
complied ; and in the evening he inquired 
about my health, ministerial success, and 
also concerning my circumstances. As God 
alone knew my wants, so none but God could , 
have inclined his heart to relieve me. At 
my departure he gave me ten guineas. This 
precious answer to prayer, coming so season- 
ably in a time of need, put my discontent to 
the blush, dashed infidelity itself out of 
countenance, and stopped the mouth of an 
accusing devil. ^* Trust in the Lord, and do 
good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
verily thou shalt be fed " (Ps. xxxvii. 3). 

I found God's promises to be the Christian's 
bank note ; and a living faith will always 



80 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

draw on the divine Banker; yea, and the 
spirit of prayer, and a deep sense of want, 
will give an heir of promise a fiUal boldness 
at the inexhaustible bank of heaven. 

Indeed the providence of God is a great 
mystery ; nor could I unriddle it, even while I 
was daily exercised with it. During my resi- 
dence at Ewell I have often begun the week 
with eighteen or twenty pence, sometimes 
with two shillings, and sometimes with half 
a crown; and we have lived through the 
whole week upon that only, without contract- 
ing any debt. And I found it impossible at 
the week's end, upon the best reflection I 
could make, to tell how we had been sup- 
ported through the week. At other times I 
have found that my craving appetite had lost 
its keenness, insomuch that I have been able 
to work hard for two days together without 
any food at all. And sometimes God has in- 
dulged me with such heavenly views of a 
glorified state, and entertained my mind with 
such sweet contemplations on futurity, that 
my dinner hour has passed away unnoticed ; 
nor have I once had a thought about it till 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 81 

four or five o'clock, or near the time of leav- 
ing my labor. But these blessed acts of 
God's providential regard are nothing new ; 
for he took away the appetite of Moses and 
Elijah for forty days together ; and he is the 
same God still. Nor is his bountiful hand at 
all shortened, though the faith of the neces- 
sitous has so often stretched it out. " I will 
leave in the midst of thee a poor and an 
afflicted people, and they shall trust in the 
name of the Lord." ( Zeph. iii. 12 ). 

At my return I discharged my debt as far 
as the ten guineas would go, and left the 
other standing on the book, which Provi- 
dence used as a future exercise for my faith. 
About that time I was ordained over my 
little flock at Wooking ; when I found Provi- 
dence began to frown again, in order to keep 
me humble. However, all things worked 
together for my good ; for, being kept daily 
dependent on God's providence by faith, I 
had the precious enjoyment of sweet com- 
munion with God ; and every day did his 
providence and gracious care appear more or 
less over me. I generally found those bless- 



82 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

ings the sweetest which had caused me the 
most importunity in prayer. This makes the 
*' dinner of herbs, where love is, better than 
a stalled ox and hatred therewith" (Pro v. 
XV. 17). 

Some time after this I was brought into 
another strait, by receiving a letter that re- 
quired me to give up one of my little flocks, 
which happened to be at that time my chief 
support. This plot was laid by a person 
who made a god of his wealth, and therefore 
found fault with my sermons, conceiving 
them levelled at him. And indeed the alle- 
gation was certainly well founded ; for, if a 
man has got the world in his heart, the 
preacher is sure of hitting him, if he should 
only draw a bow at a venture, for, if the 
love of money be the root of all evil, it is 
impossible to wield the sword of the Spirit 
without cutting either root or branch. 

This treatment drove me to London. 
When I left my own home on the Lord's day 
morning, my whole stock of money amounted 
to no more than two pence, of which I took 
one half and left my wife the other. One 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 83 

half penny of this I paid at Hampton Court 
bridge ; and soon after a poor man asked 
alms of me, to whom I gave the other half 
penny. Then I besought the Lord not to 
send any other person to ask alms of me, 
until his bountiful hand had supplied my own 
wants. However, this trial also worked to- 
gether for my good ; for it was the means of 
bringing me to preach constantly in London ; 
and many who had heard me in town, met 
with me at my friend's house, and invited me 
to preach at Margaret Street Chapel. 
Several friends also sent for me to their 
houses. One gave me a guinea, and others 
half a guinea, till I had enough to discharge 
the debt I owed. 

Mentioning these minute circumstances 
has offended many ; and some ( of an inde- 
pendent fortune ) have condemned my 
prayers as carnal, in praying for such tem- 
poral things ; but I know that they have 
taken many worse steps both to accumulate 
and to keep their independence ; and I think 
it is better to beg than to steal, as say those 
who speak in proverbs. 



84 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

I now wanted to return home, fearing that 
my family would want bread; but just before 
the time of my departure, a friend from 
Richmond arrived, who informed me that 
he had been to Ditton, and supplied the 
wants of my family ; for he said he had been 
informed of the affair, and guessed how my 
pocket stood. *^ Oh, that men would praise 
the Lord for his goodness, and for his won- 
derful works to the children of men ! " '* Go 
thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink 
thy wine with a merry heart ; for God now 
accepteth thy works'' (Eccl. ix. 7). 

At my return home I discharged my debts, 
and for a time went sweetly on, under the 
sunshine both of Providence and grace ; and 
God sent me back again to the flock which I 
had been commanded to leave by the mouth 
of a rich and covetous professor. Thus God 
frustrates the counsels of the wicked, so that 
his hands cannot perform his enterprise. 

But, as the life of faith consists in bearing 
the cross of Christ, we must not expect to be 
long without trials. Providence soon frowned 
on me again, and I got behindhand as usual. 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 85 

This happened, too, at a time when my wife 
was sick, and destitute of those necessaries 
of life which are needful at such times. The 
nurse came and told her there was no tea in 
the house. My wife replied, '*Set the kettle 
on, if there is not/' The nurse (whose name 
was Ann Webb, a daughter of mine in the 
faith, and the first soul that God called by 
me ) said, *' You have no tea, nor can you get 
any." My wife replied, *' Set on the kettle." 
She did so ; and before it boiled, a woman 
(with whom at that time we had no acquaint- 
ance ) came to the door, and told the nurse 
that she had brought some tea as a present 
to my wife. Thus God, who showed Moses 
a stick to sweeten the waters of Marah, sent 
a little tea to bitter the water in my wife's 
kettle. Soon after my wife recovered, tidings 
were brought to us that a gospel minister 
was coming down to Kingston to preach an 
evening lecture, and to break bread to the 
congregation. I had a great desire to go to 
the table, and also to have my child baptized 
at the same time ; but, as I never could go 
from the Lord's table without offering my 



86 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

mite, and at this time had no money in my 
pocket, I could not go. However, I begged 
of God to send me a little money some way 
or other for this purpose ; which I verily be- 
lieved he would. So I waited till within half 
an hour of the time to go, and then began to 
think I should be disappointed ; but, just as 
unbelief set me to murmuring and complain- 
ing, I heard a man ride up to my door as I 
was in my study at the back part of the 
house ; and when he rode away again I called 
to my wdfe to get ready to go. '* Get ready ! '' 
said she, ''why you know we have no 
money I '' '' Poh I poh I " said I, '' God has 
sent the money!" And true enough it was 
that God had sent it ; for all the business the 
man had with us was to give us some money! 
Surely it was God that sent him, and none 
else ; for, if the hairs of our heads are all 
numbered, we have reason to beheve that our 
wants are ; and if God keeps our hairs from 
falling to the ground, he certainly supplies 
our wants too. Thus the good God and 
Saviour, who made a fish produce money for 
an earthly tribute, sent the man with three 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 87 

shillings as an offering to God, and of his 
own we offered to him ( i Chron. xxix. 14). 

Soon after this I was obliged to borrow a 
guinea of a certain friend, which I promised 
to pay him on the Thursday night following, 
if he would call for it. And I begged of God 
to send it me from some quarter or other, 
firmly believing he would. The day before 
my friend had appointed to call on me for 
the money, I was to go out to preach among 
my friends ; and I earnestly besought God to 
send it me that day, if it was his will and 
pleasure, of which I had no more doubt than 
of my own existence. However, I returned 
home without it, and wondered how it could 
be, seeing the Saviour says, '' Whatsoever ye 
shall ask, believing, ye shall have it ; and 
nothing shall be impossible unto you." I 
told the Lord that I had prayed in faith for 
it, firmly believing that I should have it, but 
had not obtained it. This text of scripture 
came with power to my mind : '' F'aith is the 
substance of things hoped for, and the evi- 
(dence of things not seen." I had from that 
time a sweet view of that passage, and dcr 



88 THE BASK OF FAITH. 

livered several discourses from it, which God 
seemed to bless with power. But to return 
to my subject. As soon as I came home I 
began to fret because I had not got the 
money that I expected ; but still the text 
answered me, " Faith is the substance of 
things hoped for/' etc. I replied, '' If it be 
the substance^ it is as sure as the thing itself." 
Upon this the good man came into my study, 
and I was going to make an apology to him ; 
but before I opened my mouth, he said, " I 
came to desire you not to think of paWng me 
the guinea, for I have made you a present of 
it, and God bless you with it." As soon as 
he was gone the same passage of scripture 
recoiled upon my mind again with much 
comfort, " Faith is the substance of things 
hoped for,*' etc. And indeed I clearly saw it 
to be so, both in spirituals and temporals. 
Thus my faith was not confounded, nor my 
hope disappointed ; all my trouble spnmg 
from my own sin, which was limiting the 
Holy One of Israel. I was expecting money 
to pay the debt ; but God took away from my 
creditor the expectation of pa}Tnent. Thu3, 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 89 

like Joseph's brethren, I intended to show 
myself faithful and honest, by paying the 
money ; but our spiritual Joseph was minded 
to show me that he had given me treasure in 
the heart of my creditor. 

About that time a person called upon me, 
and offered to let me the house he then lived 
in, which he was going to leave. I own I 
had a desire after it, because there was a 
large garden belonging to it, which I could 
look after myself, and raise many vegetables^ 
that would help to support my family. The 
garden was walled in, too, which I much ad- 
mired, being very fond of retirement. There 
was a stable, a brew-house, and every other 
convenience ; and the rent was only six 
pounds ten shillings per annum. But the 
man told me it would cost seven or eight 
pounds to take the fixtures of the house ; 
wherefore I gave up the thoughts of it, as I 
had no view of raising such a sum. So I 
drove it from my thoughts, though I much 
wanted it. But God hath ** determined the 
times before appointed, and the bounds of 
our habitations ; that we should seek the 
Lord '' (Acts xvii. 26). 



90 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

A few days after this a friend called to see 
me ; whom I consulted about the house, and 
showed it to him. He persuaded me to take 
it, which I accordingly did ; but was obliged 
to wait a few weeks, till the person I was to 
succeed could provide himself with another 
situation suitable for his business. I there- 
fore asked God in prayer to enable me to 
purchase the fixtures of this house, if it was 
agreeable to his sovereign will and pleasure ; 
for I knew that God had '^ set the bounds of 
the people according to the number of the 
children of Israel" ( Deut. xxxii. 8). And 
the providence of God appeared so conspic- 
uous, that I shortly obtained money enough 
to pay for the fixtures ; but the person de- 
sired me to wait a few weeks longer, as he 
had been disappointed of the house he ex- 
expected to go into ; so I waited two months, 
during which time the money was all spent. 
Then I begged of God to frustrate my going 
into the house at all, if it was displeasing to 
him, although I much wanted it ; because my 
little cot was placed in a very vulgar neigh- 
borhood, and the windows were so very low 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 91 

that I could not study at any of them with- 
out being exposed to the view of my enemies ; 
who often threw stones through the glass, or 
saluted me with a volley of oaths or impre- 
cations. This was very disagreeable to me. 
In my public ministrations I expected noth- 
ing else but the cruel venom of asps ; but to 
commune with my God in private was the 
only sweet refuge I had to flee to, and the 
only door of hope that was open for comfort 
and relief. However, Providence soon began 
to shine again ; and indeed I had nothing 
else to live on from year's end to year's end 
but what God sent me in answer to prayer. 
At this time a person gave me five guineas ; 
which kind providence I rather wondered at. 
But the following night I had a dream — I 
hope my brethren will not hate me yet the 
more because of my dreams ( Gen. xxxvii 5 ), 
seeing we have a scriptural warrant for the 
relation of them: ''He that hath a dream, 
let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my 
word, let him speak my word " ( Jer. xxiii. 28 ), 
— I dreamed that the person before men- 
tioned sent to inform me that he was going 



92 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

to leave his house ; that the things were to 
be appraised on Friday morning ; and that he 
should expect me to pay him the money 
down for the fixtures. I said in my dream, 
**Lord, thou knowest I cannot go, for I have 
not money enough." Then camic this an- 
swer : *^ Go to Mr. Munday, cutler, at King- 
ston upon Thames, and he will lend you as 
much as you want." I soon after awoke, 
and behold it was a dream ! therefore I took 
little notice of it. But in a few hours the 
person sent me word that he was going to 
leave his house, and should expect me to 
come and see the things appraised the next 
morning, and pay him for the same. Then I 
began to think that it was more than a dream. 
The same night, Mr. Munday, of Kingston, 
called on me ; and to the best of my remem- 
brance he had never been at my house be 
fore. I asked him if he would lend me a 
little money. He replied, '* I will lend you all 
I have in my pocket ; and, if you will call on 
me to-morrow at Kingston, I will lend you 
five pounds if you want it."^ He accordingly 
lent me what he then had with him ; and the 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 93 

next morning, after the things were appraised 
to me, I paid for them, having just nine shil- 
hngs left. This is the end of my dream. 
Whether this blessing came from Fortune 
on the wheel, or from the Searcher and Dis- 
poser of hearts, I shall leave those to deter- 
mine who have got learning and independent 
fortune at command. 



94 THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER V. 

My year being now expired, I wanted a 
new parsonic livery ; wherefore in humble 
prayer I told my most blessed Lord and Mas- 
ter that my year was out and my apparel 
bad ; that I had nowhere to go for these 
things but to him, and as he had promised to 
give his servants food and raiment, I hoped 
he would fulfil his promise to me, though one 
of the worst of them. Seeing no immediate 
signs of my livery coming, I began to omit 
praying for it, though God says, **For all 
these things I will be inquired of by the 
house of Israel, that I may do these things 
for them." It fell out one day that I called 
on a poor man, who complained that he could 
not attend the word of God for want of 
apparel. This drove me to pray again for 
my new suit of clothes, that I might give my 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 95 

old ones to him. A few days after this I was 
desired to call at a gentleman's house near 
London. Indeed it had been impressed on 
my mind for six weeks before that God would 
use that gentleman as an instrument to fur- 
nish me with my next suit. And so it fell 
out; for, when I called on him, upon leaving 
his house he went a little way with me ; and 
while we were on the road he said, '^I think 
you want a suit of clothes.'' I answered, 
** Yes, sir, I do ; and I know a poor man that 
would be very glad of this which I have on, 
if my Master would furnish me with another." 
When we parted he desired me to call on him 
the next morning, which I accordingly did, 
when he sent a tailor into the room, and gen- 
erously told me to be measured for what 
clothes I chose, and a great coat also. 
When I got the new, I furnished the poor 
man with my old suit. This was the fourth 
suit of apparel that my Master gave me in 
this providential manner, in answer to the 
prayer of faith. This God, who kept Israel's 
clothes from waxing old, though in constant 
use for forty years, gave me a new suit every 
year. 



96 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

I was soon afterwards brought into an- 
other strait. Having contracted a debt of 
five pounds for some necessaries which I 
wanted, I promised to pay it on a certain 
day ; and I put up many prayers that God 
would enable me to fulfil my promise. At 
last the day arrived, and I had not one farth- 
ing towards it. About ten o'clock the bell 
rung at my gate. Supposing it to be my 
creditor, I kneeled down, and begged of God 
not to let him come till he had sent me the 
money to pay him. It proved not to be the 
man I expected, but soon after the bell rung 
again, and I kneeled down again, and prayed 
with the same words, and was informed a 
stranger wanted to see me. He had much to 
say to me about the things of God, and when 
he left me he gave me two guineas. Soon 
after this I went to work in my garden, and 
another person, who lived at a great distance, 
came to speak with me, and gave me another 
guinea. After that I took a walk in the 
fields, and met with two gentlemen who 
feared God, and who came from London on 
purpose to see me. They gave me two 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 97 

guineas. The next day my creditor came, 
and his money was ready for him. This is 
like the Lord's deaUngs with the poor widow 
by Eh'sha; when the creditor came to take 
the mother and son for bond-servants, God 
sent the creditor all his demands in a pot of 
oil. 

I have omitted one providence which has 
just occurred to my mind, and which hap- 
pened at the time I carried coals for my 
bread. It fell out one night that we were 
forced to put our little ones to bed without a 
supper, which grieved me much, and on 
which account I got but little sleep all night, 
for I lay and wept bitterly all night under my 
hard fate. While I was weeping and pray- 
ing a person came to the window and told me 
there was a load of wooden hoops come to 
the wharf from Dorking, in Surrey, and that 
I must get up and unload them, which I soon 
did. When I had done, the farmer told me 
he had brought me a little meat pie and a 
flagon of cider, of which he had heard me 
say I was very fond. As soon as he was 
econe I went home and endeavored to awake 



98 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

my young ones, but in vain ; however, I set 
them up on the bolster, and the}' began to 
eat before they were fully awake. Thus God 
sent food from a very remote place in answer 
to the groaning petition of my burdened- 
heart. God grant that, if my reader be a 
poor Christian, he may take encouragement 
from these accounts to pray and watch the 
hand of God in every time of trouble, until he 
sees, agreeable to the promise, that God causes 
all his goodness to pass before him. Oh, how 
sweet is the least mercy when fitly timed, 
and brought forth so seasonably! how it en- 
dears God to the soul! When the poor 
widow of Zareptawas gathering two sticks to 
bake the last cake for her and her son, that 
they might eat once more before they died, 
then comes the man of God, and swears that 
the barrel of meal shall not fail till God send 
rain upon the earth ( i Kings xvii. 14). 

At this time I had many doors opened to 
me for preaching the gospel, very wide apart. 
I preached at Margaret street in London ; at 
Richmond, at Ditton, at Cobham, at Wook- 
ing, at Worplesdon, and at Farnham, in Sur- 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 99 

rey. This I found too much for my strength. 
However, I continued for a considerable 
time, till at last I was generally laid up sick 
about once a month. I found I had great 
need of a horse, but feared I should not be 
able to keep it if I had one. However, it 
happened that I had a very severe week's 
work to do ; I was to go to Wooking and 
preach on the Lord's day morning, to Wor- 
plesdon in the afternoon, and from thence to 
Farnham in the evening ; to preach at Pet- 
worth, in Sussex, on the Monday, at Horsham 
on the Tuesday, at Margaret street chapel on 
the Wednesday, and at Ditton on the Thurs- 
day evening ; but before I could reach Ditton 
on the Wednesday I was so far spent that I 
thought I must have lain down on the road ; 
yet with much difficulty I reached home, and 
then I had to go to London. Finding myself 
wholly unable to perform all this labor, I went 
to prayer, and besought God to give me more 
strength, less work, or a horse. I used my 
prayers as gunners use their swivels; turning 
them every way as the various cases required. 
I then hired a horse to ride to town ; and, 



100 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

when I came there, went to put him up at 
Mr. Jackson's livery stables, near the* chapel, 
in Margaret street, but the ostler told me 
they had not room to take him in. I asked 
if his master was in the yard. He said yes. 
I desired to see him, and he told me he could 
not take the horse in. I was then going out 
of the yard, when he stepped after me, and 
asked if I was the person that preached at 
Margaret street chapel. I told him I was. 
He burst into tears, saying he would send 
one of his own horses out and take mine in; 
and informed me of his coming one night to 
hear me out of curiosity, because he had been 
informed that I had been a coal-heaver. He 
then told me that, under the first sermon, 
God showed him the insufficiency of his own 
wretched righteousness, the carnality and 
hypocrisy of his religion, the true state of 
his soul, and the necessity of the spirit and 
grace of Christ Jesus the Lord to change his 
heart if ever he was saved; and blessed" God 
for sending me there. This was good news 
to me. He also said that some of my friends 
had been gathering money to buy me a horse, 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 101 

and that he gave something towards him. 
Directly after I found the horse was bought 
and paid for; and one person gave me a 
guinea to buy a bridle, another gave me two 
whips, a third gave me somethings necessary 
for the stable, another trusted me for a sad- 
dle, and here was a full answer to my prayer. 
So I mounted my horse and rode home ; and 
he turned out as good an animal as ever was 
rode. I believe this horse was the gift of 
God, because he tells me in. his Word that all 
the beasts of the forest are his, and so are 
the cattle on a thousand hills. I have often 
thought that, if my horse could have spoken, 
he would have had more to say than Balaam's 
ass; as he might have said, '^I am an answer 
to my master's prayers ; I live by my mas- 
ter's faith, travel with mysteries, and suffer 
persecution, but I do not know for what ; " 
for many a stone has been thrown at him. 

On my road home, while meditating on the 
manifold blessings I had received from God, 
both in a way of grace and providence, how 
unworthy I was of them, and how unthankful 
I had been for them, I told God that I had 



102 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

more work for my faith now than heretofore ; 
for the horse would cost half as much to keep 
him as my whole family. In answer to which 
this scripture came to my mind with power 
and comfort, '' Dwell in the land and do good, 
and verily thou shalt be fed." This was a 
bank note put into the hand of my faith ; 
which, when I got poor, I pleaded before 
God, and he answered it. So that I lived 
and cleared my way just as well when I had 
my horse to keep as I did before ; for I could 
not then get any thing either to eat, drink, 
wear, or use, without begging it of God. 
Sometimes I found much murmuring in my 
heart against being held in so tight a rein ; 
for which I was sure to suffer afterwards. 
So I found, by daily experience, that I could 
not add one cubit to God's stature, no, not 
even in the least thing ; therefore it was in 
vain for me to take thought for the rest. 

Having now had my horse for some time, 
and riding a great deal every week, I soon 
wore my breeches out, as they were not fit to 
ride in. I hope the reader will excuse my 
mentioning the word breeches^ which I should 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 103 

have avoided, had not this passage of scrip- 
ture obtruded into my mind just as I had re- 
solved in my own thoughts not to mention 
this kind providence of God, ^'And thou 
shalt make them linen breeches to cover 
their nakedness ; from the loins even unto 
the thighs shall they reach. And they shall 
be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they 
come into the tabernacle of the congregation, 
or when they come near unto the altar to 
minister in the holy place ; that they bear 
not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute 
forever unto him and his seed after him *' 
(Exod. xxviii. 42, 43 ). By which, and three 
others ( namely, Ezek. xliv. 18 ; Lev. vi. 10 ; 
and Lev. xvi. 4), I saw that it was no crime 
to mention the word breeches, nor the way in 
which God sent them to me, — Aaron and his 
sons being clothed entirely by Providence, 
and as God himself condescended to give 
orders what they should be made of, and how 
they should be cut. And I believe that the 
same God ordered mine, as I trust it will 
appear in the following history. 

The scripture tells us to call no man mas- 



104 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

ter, for one is our master, even Christ. I 
therefore told my most bountiful and ever- 
adored Master what I wanted ; and he, who 
stripped Adam and Eve of their fig-leaved 
aprons, and niade coats of skin and clothed 
them, and who clothes the grass of the field, 
which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the 
oven, must clothe us, or we shall soon go 
naked; and so Israel found it, when God 
took away his wool and his flax, which he 
gave to cover their nakedness, and which 
they prepared for Baal, for which iniquity was 
their skirts discovered, and their heels made 
bare ( Jer. xiii. 22). 

I often made very free in my prayers with 
my invaluable Master for this favor ; but he 
still kept me so amazingly poor that I could 
not get them at any rate. At last I was de- 
termined to go to a friend of mine at Kings- 
ton, who is of that branch of business, to be- 
speak a pair, and to get him to trust me 
until my Master sent me money to pay him. 
I was that day going to London, fully deter- 
mined to engage them as I rode through the 
town. However, when I passed the shop, I 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 105 

forgot it ; but when I came to London 1 
called on Mr. Croucher, a shoemaker in 
Shepherd's Market, who told me a parcel was 
left there for me, but what it was he knew 
not. I opened it, and behold there was a 
pair of leather breeches with a note in them ! 
the substance of which was, to the best of 
my remembrance, as follows : 

' Sir: 

"I have sent you a pair of breeches, and 
hope they will fit. I beg your acceptance of 
them ; and, if they want any alteration, leave 
in a note what the alteration is, and I will 
call in a few days and alter them. I. S." 

I tried them on, and they fitted as well as 
if I had been measured for them, at which 
I was amazed, having never been measured 
by any leather breeches maker in London. I 
wrote an answer to the note to this effect : 

*^Sir: 

'' I received your present, and thank you 
for it. I was going to order a pair of leather 
breeches to be made, because I did not know 
till now that my Master had bespoke them of 
you. They fit very well, which fully con- 
vinces me that the same God who moved thy 



106 THE BAXK OF FAITH. 

heart to give, guided thy hand to cut ; be- 
cause he perfectly knows my size, having 
clothed me in a miraculous manner for near 
five years. When you are in trouble, sir, I 
hope you will tell my ^Master of this, and 
what you have done for me, and he will 
repay you with honor/' 

That is as near as I am able to relate it, 
and I added : 

^^I cannot make out /. 5. unless I put / 
for Is7'aelite ijideed^ and 5. for Sincerity ; be- 
cause you did not '^ sound a trumpet before 
you, as the hypocrites do." 

About this time twelve-month I got an- 
other pair of breeches in the same extraordi- 
nary manner, without my ever being measured 
for them. 

As I was one frosty night going to Rich- 
mond to preach, when there was much snow 
on the ground, I met a poor cripple in a very 
deplorable condition. He solicited alms of 
me, and I refused him, because I had but 
one shilling in all the world, and did not 
choose to part with that ; however, I found 
myself greatly distressed because I did not 
give it to him, he appeared m such a misera- 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 107 

ble condition. I thought, perhaps, in such a 
severe night as that was, he might perish for 
want of the necessaries of life. When I 
came to Richmond I told a friend of it, and 
said I thought him to be in a dreadful situa- 
tion, because I was so much distressed about 
refusing to relieve him ; declaring that if I 
met him again, I would give it to him, if I 
never had another shilling of my own. The 
next night, as I was going to preach at a vil- 
lage adjacent, I met the same poor object, 
and had got the same shilling in my pocket, 
and no more. The poor creature passed me, 
but asked nothing of me ; however, I turned 
back and gave him the shilling. The poor 
man received it with great joy and thankful- 
ness, and told me a deal of his sufferings, 
which fully convinced me he was in great 
want ; and this blessed passage of Scripture 
came to my mind: ''He that hath pity upon 
the poor lendeth to the Lord ; and that which 
he hath given will he pay him again'' (Prov. 
xix. 17). I went that night and delivered my 
discourse, and when I had done a woman 
took me aside into a room, and put three 



108 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

half-crown pieces into my hand, saying, "I 
was commanded to give you that." I asked 
her, ''By whom?" She repHed, *'By a gen- 
tleman; but you are not to know his name." 
Thus I received my shilling again with very 
considerable interest ; and thus also the ful- 
filment of the word took place : ''There is 
that scattereth and yet increaseth ; and there 
is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it 
tendeth to penury" (Prov. xi. 24). 

One providence I had almost forgot. We 
were at that time very badly off for beds and 
bedding; my children were no better pro- 
vided. than the Saviour when he lay in a man- 
ger, for they slept upon bags of hay; but 
prayer at a long run brought in these things 
also. Some of my most intimate acquaint- 
ances knew how I was tried in this respect, 
though I never made it known to anybody 
who was capable of helping me out of my 
trouble. But one night, after I had done 
preaching at Richmond, a person invited me 
home to his house, and showed me a large 
bundle tied up, saying it was for me. I 
asked who the donor was ; he replied, " You 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 109 

are not to know that/' I carried it home, 
when lo, it proved to be bedding, and the 
very thing I stood so much in need of! Thus 
the blessed Saviour fulfils his gracious prom- 
ise which he made to his servants, ** Whatso- 
ever ye ask in my name, that will I do, that 
the Father may be glorified in the Son. If 
ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do 
It" (John xiv. 13, 14). 

Some time after this I took gospel courage 
and asked my Master to give me a new bed ; 
and importuned his ever-blessed and most ex- 
cellent Majesty until I got it. Perceiving 
that the Lord approved of a bold, though not 
of a presumptuous beggar, agreeable to his 
word, '' Let us come boldly unto the throne 
of grace," etc., I boldly asked him the favor, 
and persevered in it, until I was one day in- 
formed by a friend that four or five pious 
people were coming on such a day from Lon- 
don to visit me. Then my faith told me that 
I should soon have the bed. Accordingly 
they came, and we had some comfortable 
conversation together. Towards evening 
they departed, giving me four guineas. Oh, 



110 THE BAXK OF FAITH, 

what Christian in his right mind would mur- 
mur and complain at his poverty, when, with 
a watchful eye, he sees such liberal supplies 
poured forth from the inexhaustible stores of 
Providence ! Thus God, who provided a 
comfortable lodging for Elisha the prophet, 
provided me ''a bed, a table, a stool and a 
candlestick'* (2 Kings iv. 10). 

I was determined to keep this money for a 
bed, and therefore went to a good man in 
London and bespoke one, which he very soon 
sent me, with a rug also, and a pair of very 
good blankets. Soon after I called to pay 
him for it, when he told me to pay his clerk, 
who gave me a receipt for the same ; but 
afterwards the gentleman went a little way 
with me, and at his departure gave me all 
the money back again. How sweet are tem- 
poral mercies when received by those who 
are under the influence of grace ! when they 
are seen to come from a covenant God and 
Father, in answer to the simple prayer of 
faith! Surely he that '*will observe these 
things, even he shall understand the loving, 
kindness of the Lord" ( Ps. cvii. 43 ). The 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 111 

promises of God pleaded in humble prayer, 
and promised mercies received in answer 
thereto, always come so as to make a divine 
impression, being sweetened with love to us ; 
for every such mercy is ** sanctified by the 
word of God and prayer." But to the unbe- 
lieving and prayerless there is nothing clean, 
though there be ever so much stock in hand. 
*' A little that a righteous man hath is better 
than the treasures of many wicked" (Ps. 
xxxvi. i6). 



112 THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Another year having rolled over my 
head, I began to look about for my livery ; 
for I always took care to let my most pro- 
pitious Master know when my year was out. 
And indeed I wanted it bad enough, for 
riding on horseback soiled my clothes much 
more than walking did. However, my Lord 
exercised my faith and patience for six weeks 
together about this livery ; and I looked all 
manner of ways for it ; but every door seemed 
shut up ; and I could not see from what quar- 
ter it was to come. (You know, reader, we 
are all very fond of running before God ; but 
he takes his own pace.) At length I was in- 
formed by Mr. Byrchmore that a gentleman 
in Wells street wanted to see me. Accord- 
ingly I went ; and was admitted into the 
parlor to the gentleman and his spouse. He 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 113 

wept, and begged I would not be angry at 
what he was going to relate ; which was, that 
he had for some time desired to make me a 
present of a suit of clothes, but was ' afraid 
that I should be offended at his offer, and 
refuse it. ^^ Ah ! " says Envy, ^' there need 
be no fear of that, for Methodist parsons are 
all for what they can get." It is true; for 
we are commanded to ^' covet earnestly the 
best things ; " and so we do, and expect a 
double reward of the Lord, — one in this 
world, the other in the next. And this is no 
more than our Master has promised to give 
us ; for we are to ** receive an hundred-fold 
in this world, and in the world to come, life 
everlasting." I told the good man that I 
had been for some time expecting a suit of 
clothes, but knew not how to procure them. 
They both wept for joy upon my accepting 
them, and I wept for joy that they gave 
them so freely. As they had been fearful 
that I should be offended at their offer, and 
not receive them ; so I had been much ex- 
ercised in my mind, lest my Master would 
not give them to me, as he usually had done. 



114 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

However, our minds were now eased of our 
fears, on both sides, and I was clothed ; and 
it was the best suit that I ever had. This is 
the fifth Hvery that my trembUng hand of 
faith put on my back, and every one came 
from a different quarter. The name of the 
good man who gave me this suit is Randall, 
in Wells street, Oxford market. I mention 
his name to show that I cannot keep such 
secrets, because he strictly charged me not 
to let it be known. However, I have imitated 
the disciples of old in this, for it is said of 
them that " the more Christ charged them to 
keep silence, the more they spread it abroad." 
And indeed it must be so, or else the Lord 
would be deprived of the honor that is due to 
his holy name. Though by the Saviour's 
charge it plainly appeared that he sought not 
the applause of men, yet it is the indispens- 
able duty of every Christian to applaud the 
Saviour. 

But to return to my subject. I had an in- 
vitation to go and preach at Horsham, in 
Sussex, one Monday evening. On the pre- 
ceeding Lord's day I preached at Wooking, 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 115 

in Surrey, and had to ride from thence to 
Horsham on the Monday. Then I set out to 
go across the country ( it was in the winter 
season ) ; and just as I had got out of Guild- 
ford town it began to rain, and continued in 
a violent manner all the time I was on the 
road. It so happened that I had but one 
shilling in my pocket, which would only pro- 
cure a feed of corn for my horse, and pay the 
turnpikes. My surtout, which was a very 
thin Bath coat, was of very little use, being 
almost worn out ; wherefore I was much ex- 
posed to this violent storm of rain ; and I 
think I never had been so wet before. I was 
obliged to strip, and even to have my shirt 
washed before I could preach. I then se- 
cretly wished for a large horseman's coat, 
being obliged to ride in all weathers ; but, as 
I had been begging so many things of my 
most indulgent Master, I thought by my con- 
tinual coming I should weary him, not con- 
sidering that God commands us to open our 
mouths wide that he may fill them, which I 
believe means that our desires should be as 
extensive at a throne of grace as God's preg- 



116 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

nant promises, which he made us in the dear 
Son of his love. Christ is the heir of all 
things, and the Christian is an heir of promise, 
therefore he has a right to ask for those 
things that will defray his expenses through 
this world with that honor which becomes a 
saint, and not a miser. 

My mock-modesty would not allow me to 
ask God for a great coat, though I earnestly 
desired it, and murmured at God's provi- 
dence because I was kept so poor that I 
could not purchase one. However, when I 
came to London on the Wednesday follow- 
ing, and had preached at Margaret Street 
Chapel in the evening, a person approached 
me just as I came out of the chapel, saying, 
*' I w\ant to speak to you ; " which was to in- 
form me that he intended, with the assist- 
ance of some more friends, to make me a pres- 
ent of a horseman's coat, wherefore he desired 
me to be measured for it. Accordingly I was, 
and that, gentleman, with a few others, honor- 
ably paid for it. Surely to deny the over- 
ruling providence of God is to deny the whole 
journal of the children of Israel, and all the 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 117 

wondrous works of God which daily appeared 
on their behalf for forty years together. But 
there are some who consider not '^the oper- 
ation of God's hands ; therefore he shall de- 
stroy them, and not build them up" ( Ps. 
xxviii, 5 ). 

Thus my mock-modesty could not make 
the promise of God of none effect ; and God 
forbid it ever should. Zechariah desired 
a sign when the angel told him that his 
prayer was heard, and a son was to be given ; 
and God gave him an awful sign, but his un- 
belief did not hinder the birth of John. After 
receiving this gift from God this scripture 
came sweet to my soul : *^I know both how 
to be abased, and I know how to abound ; 
everywhere and in all things I am instruct- 
ed both to be full and to be hungry, both 
to abound and to suffer need " ( Phil. iv. 
12). And indeed I found by all these trials 
that I also was instructed ; for I learned one 
blessed doctrine by this providence, which I 
never saw clearly before ; namely, the power 
of internal or mental prayer ascending so 
prevalently to God, under the influences of 



118 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

the Spirit, even when the understanding and 
the lips were both unfruitful. And the appli- 
cation of the following texts gave me sweet 
views of it : '' Lord, thou hast heard the de- 
sire of the humble ; thou w^ilt prepare their 
heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear *' 
( Ps. X. 17). '^ Delight thyself also in the 
Lord, and he shall give thee the desire of 
thine heart." ''Commit thy ways unto the 
Lord ; trust also in him and he shall bring it 
to pass" ( Ps. xxxvii. 4, 5). These scriptures 
led me to consider, and apply with comfort to 
my own soul, the many precious promises 
which God has made in Christ Jesus to the 
spiritual anxiety of a renewed soul at the 
throne of grace, even when the sound of the 
voice, the sound of the organ, and that con- 
fused gabbling of monkish mimicry, called 
chanting of prayers, are left quite out of the 
promise ; as will appear in the following pas- 
sages, which I beseech my reader to con- 
sider : '' The desire of the righteous shall be 
granted" (Prov. x. 24); ''For he satisfieth 
the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul 
with goodness" (Ps. cvii. 9); "For the 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 119 

oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the 
needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will 
set him in safety from him that puffeth at 
him"; '' P'or he looked down from the 
height of his sanctuary ; from heaven did the 
Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning 
of the prisoner ( mark that, to hear the groan- 
ing of the prisoner ) ; to loose those that are 
appointed to death "( Ps. cii, 19, 20). Thus 
the Holy Ghost makes '' intercession for the 
saints according to the will of God ; and God, 
who searcheth the heart, knoweth what is the 
mind of the Spirit " ( Rom. viii. 27 ). 

Hence observe, reader, that the promise 
is made to a spiritual hunger, a spiritual 
thirst, an holy longing, a deep heart-felt sigh, 
an earnest desire, and groaning, from a bur- 
dened mind. All these are petitions put up 
by the blessed Spirit of supplication alone 
(without the use of the lips), who '^maketh 
intercession for us with groanings that cannot 
be uttered." These were the prayers which 
our blessed Saviour put up at Lazarus's grave, 
"when he groaned in the spirit, and was 
troubled." "Jesus therefore again groaned" 



120 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

inspirit. (John xi. 33, 38). Again, ''And 
Jesus looking up to heaven, sighed, and saith 
unto him, Ephphatha; that is. Be opened. 
And straightway his ears were opened, and 
the string of his tongue was loosed, and he 
spake plain" (Mark vii. 34, 35). Thus it ap- 
pears that agonies, tears, groans and sighs, 
were chiefly the all-prevailing petitions put 
up by our dear Redeemer when in a state of 
humiliation. Christian, learn thou of him 
who is meek and lowly In heart, and thou 
shalt find rest for thy soul. 

It is not an eloquent voice, elegant speech, 
lofty compliments, swelling words, much 
speaking, long prayers, nor yet the number- 
less repetitions of ''We beseech thee to hear 
us, good Lord," that shall ever prevail with 
God; it is "not every one that saith. Lord, 
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom." The 
foolish virgins were too late with Lord, Lord. 
God will accept of no sacrifice but that which 
comes in the hallowed flame of his own kind- 
ling, and perfumed with the sweet-smelling 
savor of that blessed, ever-availing, and ever- 
living sacrifice of his dear Son. The prayers 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 121 

of that man who calls himself a Christian, or 
a follower of the Saviour, but is an utter 
stranger to mental prayer, have never yet 
reached the ears of God ; for God is a spirit, 
and will accept of nothing short of spiritual 
prayer. It was the groanings of the children 
of Israel that went up before God, and 
brought him down to deliver them, as de- 
clared by God himself to Moses at Horeb 
(Ex. ii. 24). Let this encourage thee, read- 
er, if thou art one who cannot find words to 
express thyself at the throne of grace. If 
thou canst pour out thy soul before the Lord, 
show him thy trouble, and leave thy burden 
with him. These are precious prayers; and, 
if thou comest from thy knees with thy mind 
eased, thy faith strengthened, thy hope en- 
couraged, thy bowels refreshed, and with con- 
fidence that God hath heard thy prayer for 
his dear Son's sake, oh, these are sweet an- 
swers from God. Be thankful, and pray on. 
Such was the answer that Hannah got when 
she went from Shiloh with her countenance 
no more sad. 

During the space of three years I secretly 



122 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

wishea m my soul that God would favor me 
with a chapel of my own, being sick of the 
errors that were perpetually broached by 
some one or other in Margaret street chapel, 
where I then preached. But, though I so 
much desired this, yet I could not ask God 
for such a favor, thinking it was not to be 
brought about by one so very mean, low and 
poor as myself. However, God sent a per- 
son, unknown to me, to look at a certain 
spot, who afterward took me to look at it ; 
but I trembled at the very thought of such 
an immense undertaking. Then God stirred 
up a wise man to offer to build a chapel, and 
to manage the whole work without fee or re- 
ward. God drew the pattern on his imagina- 
tion while he was hearing me preach a sermon. • 
I then took the ground ; this person executed 
the plan ; and the chapel sprung up like a 
mushroom. As soon as it was finished this 
precious Scripture came sweet to my soul : 
''He will fulfil the desire of them that fear 
him" (Ps. cxlv. 19). Thus the chapel ap- 
peared as an answer to the earnest desire 
which God had kindled in my heart, and 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 123 

which he intended to fulfil in his own good 
time, to the honor of his own great name, the 
good of many souls, and to the encourage- 
ment of my poor, weak, tottering faith. It 
is confessed in the church of England ser- 
vice that **all holy desires, all good counsels 
and just works, proceed from God," and I 
believe they do. 

Another kmd providence I experienced 
while I resided at Thames Ditton. My sur- 
tout coat had got very thin and bad, and the 
weather at that time was very cold. It hap- 
pened that I was invited to preach at a little 
place near London. As I went thither I felt 
the cold very severely ; and as soon as I had 
delivered my discourse, I desired a young 
man to fetch my old great coat, in order to 
put it on before I went out of the warm meet- 
ing-house. When he came back, lo, he 
brought me a 7tew one ! I told him that was 
not mine. He said it was. And though I 
insisted upon it that it was not, he persisted 
in saying it was. So I put it on, and it fitted 
me very well. In one of the pockets there 
was a letter, which informed me that my 



124 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

blessed Lord and Master had sent it to me 
to wrap my poor worthless carcass in during 
that very severe winter. Oh, the tender 
care of our most gracious Lord and Master! 
Solomon says, ''The favor of a king is as a 
cloud of the latter rain." I think he must 
mean the cloud of God's divine favor, which 
blotted out our transgressions as a cloud, and 
appears as a cloud by day to screen us from 
the storm of wrath ; and, if my reader watches 
the bountiful hand of God, he will see this 
blessed cloud daily discharging itself in the 
genial showers of grace and providence; as it 
is written, ''And I will make them, and the 
places round about my hill, a blessing; and I 
will cause the shower to come down in his 
season ; there shall be showers of blessings " 
(Ezek. xxxiv. 26). 

They have a common saying in the Wild 
of Kent when the daughter of an old farmer 
is married. If it be inquired what portion 
the old man gave, the answer is, "He gave 
not much money, but the old people are 
always sending them something, — there is 
always something sent from a farm-house. '* 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 125 

Then the observation usually is, ''Ay, hers is 
a hand-basket portion, which is generally the 
best, for there is no end to that." Even so 
our everlasting Father gives to his poor chil- 
dren a hand-basket portion, — a basket being 
that which we generally fetch our daily pro- 
visions in; and God sometimes puts his bless- 
ing even in the basket, and then it seldom 
comes home empty; as it is written, ''Blessed 
shall be thy basket" (Deut. xxviii. 5). Our 
blessed Saviour eyed this promise on the 
mount. When he was going to feed five 
thousand men, besides women and children, 
with five barley loaves and two small fishes, 
it is said he looked up to heaven, and blessed 
and brake, etc. And that blessing was 
enough; for they were all filled, and there 
were twelve baskets full of fragments. Thus 
the blessing appeared in the basket ; and that 
made the Saviour so fond of the fragments as 
to give this strict charge to his disciples> 
"Let nothing be lost." Thus, too, the prov- 
erb of the hand-basket portion appears true ; 
and our blessed Saviour himself lived on it 
while he dwelt below ; yea, the whole Levitical 



126 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

tribe lived on the hand-basket portion, for 
the shew-bread, that was set hot before God 
on the golden table, was brought in a basket. 
So that God himself has highly honored the 
basket. 

I am firmly of opinion that the hand-basket 
portion is the best, both for soul and body ; 
because it keeps us to prayer, exercises our 
faith, engages our watchfulness, and excites 
to gratitude. It does not appear that the 
prodigal son added much to his fortune when 
he desired the portion of goods that fell to 
him ; that is, desired to have an independent 
stock of his own, and to be left to improve 
it by himself ; wherefore he did not choose to 
live near his father, lest he should interfere ; 
but went into a far country, that his father 
might see how he flourished in the world 
when once he became independent. But 
self-will, self-sufficiency, and independency of 
God, seldom gain much by trading, for we all 
know that this independent merchant would 
have been starved, and damned too, if free 
grace had not undertook to feed him and to 
save him. Poor soul ! I warrant you he flour- 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 127 

ished away at first, but he soon brought him- 
self down upon a level with the swine. He 
could not boast of the entertainment^ because 
it was nothing but husks; nor could he boast 
much of compa7tyy they being only swine. 



128 THE BANK OF FAITH, 



CHAPTER VII. 

I ONCE preached on the Lord's day at 
Wooking, in Surrey; and the week before 
that time I and my family had been sorely 
tried for want of the common necessaries of 
life. I was very fond of feeding my little 
ones when I had wherewithal to feed them, 
because I knew how much I had suffered 
when young through my parents' poverty. 
That week the little ones had lived chiefly 
on bread, which grieved me much, as the ap- 
petite of young growing children is so crav- 
ing after food. When I used to shut the 
cupboard door, and give them nothing but 
bread, my eldest daughter would look me in 
the face with much earnestness and solemni 
ty, and ask me this important question, *^Is 
the boo all boppee, daddy .^ " which gibberish, 
by interpretation, signified, *^ Is the butter all 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 129 

gone, father?" She would at such times 
lean her head on one shoulder, look me full 
in the face, and lay a particular emphasis 
upon the particle W/, which she would draw 
out with a very long tone. Then she would 
use some of her logic, and reason the point 
with me, asking me many strange questions, 
which I partly understood, as they amounted 
chiefly to the inquiry when the butter would 
come, or whether there was any ground to 
hope for any; but at that time I could give 
her no promise as a ground for her hope, 
every door being apparently shut. 

We had at that season but little fuel, 
though it was a very severe frost and the 
snow laid on the ground. As I was return- 
ing from Wooking on the Monday mornings 
before I came to Cobham ( having left Wook- 
ing very early without breakfast), I was 
exceedingly hungry and weary, and had but 
little to expect when I arrived at home ; for 
I knew I had nothing but bread, and perhaps 
not that. When I came on the common 
which is called Fair Mile, lying between Cob- 
ham and Esher, I wept bitterly at my hard 



130 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

late, and yet trembled for fear of offending 
God by my complaining, as he had given me 
so full a persuasion of my eternal salvation 
through Christ. I often feared that he 
would hear my murmurings as he did the 
murmuring of Israel in the wilderness, when 
he answered them by terrible things ; namely, 
'* He gave them meat for their lust, but sent 
leanness into their souls." And I thought, 
if God should take away the happy enjoy- 
ment of his love from me, and lay me in a 
stock of temporal things instead thereof, I 
should have cause, like Job, to curse the day 
wherein the change was made ; therefore I 
often prayed against that, and the blessed 
Spirit greatly helped my infirmities in those 
prayers. 

But when I got about half over the com- 
mon, it came suddenly into my mind to go 
out of the horse road into a little narrow track, 
which leads over the hills, between the hand- 
post and the Bath-house. I could gain but 
very little ground by this, nor do I remember 
that I had ever gone that way before ; but I 
soon found what this impression meant ; for 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 131 

there was to be a battle fought between a 
stoat, or weasel, and a large rabbit. The 
stoat, or weasel, was to fight the battle and 
to win the field, and I was to take the prey. 
So I took up my rabbit, and gladly carried him 
home ; and it proved as fine a one as I ever 
saw, being quite in season, in every sense of 
the word, for we had nothing but bread in 
the house. 

I endeavored as much as possible to get 
my wife to live by faith ; and often encour- 
aged her to prayer, by telling her that she had 
a right to expect her support from God as 
well as myself, seeing the Almighty had 
taken me from my daily labor to work in his 
vineyard ; and I supported my argument 
from this consideration, that the whole Levit- 
ical tribe lived of old on the offerings of the 
Lord, both women and children, as well as 
those men who waited at the altar. 

Soon after this Providence sent me three 
guineas, with which I was determined to fur- 
nish my wife with some apparel. I accord- 
ingly bought her a gown, and soon after a 
friend gave her another. At this she seemed 



132 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

highly pleased. Her unbelief was con- 
founded, her murmuring stopped, and all 
was well. After this the bountiful hand of 
my Lord seemed to be closed again for a long 
time; until I got five guineas in debt, and 
began to want even provisions. Now I 
began to fret, and unbelief crept in apace ; 
but, just as the spirit of murmuring and 
complaining began to operate, there came 
a letter to me from a gentleman at Gains- 
borough in Lincolnshire. I opened it and 
found the following contents : 

*' Dear Friend, — I have sent you a hamper 
by one of my ships, which will be at London 
by such a time, if God permit ; and I have 
ordered it to be left at Hungerford-Stairs for 
you. The first present is for your wife, 
which is two ends ; the other is for your 
children, being a cow and her milk-maid 
attending her — a cow being very useful where 
there is a family ; the last article, according 
to my judgment, is a very useful thing for 
you, and for every gospel minister. Tender 
my best respects to your wife and little 
ones, and accept the same from 

'*Your humble servant, 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 133 

Here is the riddle, and I had seven days 
to find it out. My wife asked me if my 
present was a Bible. I said no, I believed not. 
I told her that Paul called a gospel minister 
an ox. ''Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of 
the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God 
take care of oxen, or saith he it altogether for 
our sakes 1 For our sakes no doubt this is 
written." ''Thus," said I, "God compares 
a preacher to an ox. Treading out the corn 
is unfolding and explaining God's word ; 
muzzling the ox is not giving him food to eat 
for his labor, as Paul explains it. ' Even 
so hath the Lord ordained, that they which 
preach the gospel should live of the gospel ' " 
( I Cor. ix. 14 ). I farther added that the same 
apostle, who compares the preacher to an ox, 
tells us in his epistle to the church at Colosse, 
to "let our speech be always with grace, 
seasoned with salt, that we may know how 
we ought to answer every man" ( Col. iv. 6)- 
Therefore I conjectured that my present was 
a bullock's tongue, well salted ; and that my 
wife's, which the letter expressed to be two 
endS'i must be ajlitch of bacon, cut in two pieces; 



134 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

but, as for a cow I could not conjecture what 
that could be. When the hamper came, we 
all got round it, to see what was the sub. 
stance of the riddle in the carcass of the 
lion ; and when it was opened, I found that 
my present was a bullock's tongue dried ; my 
wife's was two large pieces of bacoji ; and the 
children's present was a cheese, with the print 
of a cow and milk-maid milking her on it. 
Such was the present, and this was the 
explanation of the riddle. 

About this time I went once a fortnight to 
preach at a place in Middlesex, about ten 
miles from London, where I lived, and they 
gave me three shillings a time for preaching 
to them. There was a single gentleman, 
who was a member of the church, a man 
of great property, supposed to be worth 
twenty or thirty thousand pounds. ' This 
gentleman once saw me pass by his door, as I 
had been that way to visit a sick woman. 
He called me into his house, and expressed 
much love to my Master, Jesus, and a great 
satisfaction in hearing my discourses on 
the doctrine of grace ; and desired me, the 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 135 

next time I came, to deliver a discourse from 
this passage of scripture : ^' But the land 
whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills 
and valleys, and drinketh water of the 
rain of heaven ; a land which the Lord 
thy God careth for ; the eyes of the Lord 
thy God are upon it, from the beginning 
of the year even unto the end of the year '' 
( Deut. xi. 11,12). So I promised to offer my 
thoughts on the text when I came again 
to preach. At my departure he gave me the 
right-hand of fellowship, blessed me in the 
name of the Lord, and, putting his hand into 
his pocket, very generously made me a present 
of a whole shilling I I took it, and thanked 
him kindly ; for I thought it was the first fruits 
of liberality that ever grew upon that tree, and 
perhaps the last; and I mention it now 
to the honor of his compassionate bowels. 
I afterwards found that he had made many 
inquiries concerning me ; and had been 
informed that I was a poor man; had a large 
family ; that I walked ten miles out and 
ten miles back again, and was from home all 
night when I preached at that place, for 



136 THE BANK OF FAITH, * 

which I received only three shillings. These 
things reaching his ears, conveyed that sym- 
pathetic touch to his feelings, and finally 
dragged that whole shilling out of his 
pericardium. '' How hardly shall those that 
have riches enter the kingdom of God ! " 

I believe that every man has a god of some 
sort or other. Self is the god of the Phari- 
see ; the belly the god of the epicurean ; 
mammon the god of the miser; dJid. Jehovah 
the God of the Christian. And all these have 
their representatives. Hager is the mother 
of the Pharisees ; Nabal the head of the 
gluttons ; Judas of the mammonites ; and 
Simon Magus is the figurative sire of every 
person who is laboring hard to purchase 
the grace of God, and the gifts of the Holy 
Ghost, by their own supposed merit. 

Having been one night to preach at Rich- 
mond, I was invited home by my friends, 
Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, at Petersham, near 
Richmond, to sleep. In the morning Mrs. 
Chapman, smiling, told me she had twelve 
yards of stuff damask by her, which she 
intended to make me a present of, for a 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 137 

morning gown. I laughed, and told them 
that I thought a coal-heaver would cut a 
strange figure in a morning gown. I should 
appear like a beggar in dignity ; but that 
was better than dignity in ruins. However, 
they saw that God had begun to lift up 
my head, and were determined their pastor 
should make a more respectable figure ; 
wherefore they insisted on my having it ; to 
which I objected, because a gown has such a 
cottish appearance on a laborer in the vine- 
yard. I therefore turned it into a banyan, or 
coat ; and after it was made up I hid it for 
two or three months before I could reconcile 
myself to appear in it. 

I had now received a letter from a friend 
in the country, who was in great distress, 
and stood much in need of a little relief ; but 
at that time I myself was four or five pounds 
in debt, which I had been a long time in ex- 
pectation that my God would enable me to 
discharge. However, I found that God now 
began to try my patience ; and that I ought 
to importune, and watch, and wait upon the 
Lord, and to keep my eye fixed on him, as a 



138 THE ^ANK OF FAITH. 

servant's eye is on the hand of his master, 
until I obtained an answer. And I never 
waited on his blessed Majesty in vain, for it 
was sure to come at length. After putting 
up my petitions, and having been kept long 
in suspense, I one night called on Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith, in Chandler street, Oxford road, 
who were great friends to me. Before I de- 
parted they generously made me a present of 
three guineas. I humbly beg their pardon 
for mentioning their names, and exposing 
their secret alms ; but, as I prayed to my 
Father which seeth in secret, and he in 
mercy rewarded me openly, I therefore must 
proclaim it upon the house-top, to encourage 
the weak faith of others, that they may make 
God their Guardian and their Bank. The lib- 
erality of Job's friends is left upon record to 
their honor, when ^' every man gave him a 
piece of money, and every one an ear-ring of 
gold" (Jobxlii. II). 

I now took encouragement to hope that my 
gracious Master would add to this blessing 
a sufficiency for the purpose of discharging 
my debt, and relieving my friend ; which, in 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 139 

answer to prayer, he was graciously pleased 
to do. The next morning a person knocked 
at my door, desiring to see me. When he 
came into my study I looked at him, and per- 
ceived him to be a gentleman that I had 
never seen before. He told me that he had 
once heard me preach at Dr. Gilford's meet- 
ing house, and once or twice in Margaret 
Street Chapel, and that he had heard me 
greatly to his satisfaction : and the reason of 
his coming to see me now was, that he had 
been exercised the last night with a dream 
— that he dreamed that the word of God 
came to him saying, ^* If thy brother be waxed 
poor, thou shalt open thy hand to thy poor 
brother," etc. He asked me if there was 
such a portion of scripture. I answered the 
words were these : '' If there be among you a 
poor man, one of thy brethren, within any of 
thy gates, in the land which the Lord thy 
God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy 
heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor 
brother ; but thou shalt open thine hand 
wide Unto him, and shall surely lend him 
sufficient for his need, in that which he 



140 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought 
in thy wicked heart, saying, the seventh year, 
the year of release, is at hand : and thine eye 
be evil against thy poor brother, and thou 
givest him nought, and he cry unto the Lord 
against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou 
shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall 
not be grieved when thou givest him ; because 
that for this thing the Lord thy God shall 
bless thee in all thy works, and in all that 
thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor 
shall never cease out of the land. Wherefore 
I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open 
thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy 
poor, and to thy needy in the land" ( Deut. 
XV. 7- 1 1 ). He told me many of these words 
came to him in his sleep ; and in the morn- 
ing, when he awoke, he felt the power of 
them. In wondering who this poor brother 
could be, he informed me it was impressed 
on his mind that I was the brother about 
whom he had dreamed ; and asked me con- 
cerning my circumstances. I then told him 
of the trial I was in ; and, as he was fully satis- 
fied it was of God, he wondered much at it. 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 141 

At his departure he gave me a new pair of 
dogskin gloves, two new white handkerchiefs, 
very good, and a guinea. He then blessed 
me, and left me ; and I do not remember 
ever seeing him before that time,, nor but 
once since. Thus God who commanded a 
widow to sustain Elijah, commanded this 
man to relieve me. 

The next day a friend told me that a person 
had left a guinea with him for me ; and, while 
at Mr. Byrchmore's in Margaret street, a lady 
came to his door in a coach, inquiring for me. 
When I came to the door, she put her hand 
out and gave me a guinea, and then ordered 
the coachman to drive away, having done all 
the business God sent her to do. Thus our 
most bountiful Benefactor answered these my 
poor petitions also, after he had been pleased 
for a time to exercise my faith and patience, 
in order to encourage me to a stronger confi- 
dence in his grace and providence. And I now 
make it known to the honor of his veracity, 
and to the encouragement of the poor of his 
flock, who are obliged to live, both spiritually 
p.nd temporally, *'by every word that proceed- 



142 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

eth out of the mouth of God." And, as God 
has been pleased to reveal himself as a God 
that will hear and answer prayer, and has ap- 
peared so to mcy one of the worst and least 
of all creatures, I choose therefore to sub- 
scribe with my hands ( Isa. xliv. 5); set to 
my seal ; and proclaim to all that fear his 
name, that God is true (John iii. 33). 

Oh, how sweet have these words often been 
to my soul ! and as applicable to m.y case as 
possible : ''And thou shalt remember all the 
ways w^hich the Lord thy God led thee these 
forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee 
and to prove thee, to know what was in thine 
heart, whether thou wouldst keep his com- 
mandments or no. And he humbled thee, 
and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee 
with manna, which thou knewest not, neither 
did thy fathers know ; that he might make 
thee know that man doth not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out 
of the mouth of the Lord doth man live '' 
( Deut. viii. 2, 3 ). When these precious an- 
swers to prayer appeared, they always came 
^.ttended with humbling grace, and were 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 143 

sweetened to my soul with a blessed sense of 
unmerited love ; and, though at certain times, 
when unbelief was prevalent, I have found it 
hard work to keep from murmuring ; espe- 
cially when I have seen the basest of mortals 
rolling in wealth and pleasure, and spending 
it to support the shattered interest of the 
devil ; while I could appeal to God that I 
loved him, and sought his glory, and the 
good of his chosen, yea, even labored beyond 
my strength in his cause and interest, and 
yet suffered for want of common necessaries. 
But these two scriptures generally silenced 
my murmuring : '* The wicked have their 
portion in this life, whose belly God fills with 
his hid treasure;" and '^The righteous are 
God's witnesses against the wicked." These 
words would sometimes occur to my mind : 
''He that hath a bountiful eye shall be 
blessed." And again, '' To one it is given to 
gather together and heap up, but never an 
heart given to do good therewith ; this is a 
sore travail." And that in Job, "Though the 
wicked prepare raiment as the sand, yet the 
righteous shall put it on, and the innocent 



144 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

shall divide the silver." Better is gospel 
contentment with poverty than the sacrifices 
of many wicked ; and I have often found the 
most comfort in my soul when my outward 
matters have appeared to wear the most 
gloomy aspect — internal consolations have 
more than once counterbalanced all my ex- 
ternal afflictions. These daily crosses attend- 
ing me in circumstances I found were made 
very useful to those whom God had called by 
me, as the means to establish them in the 
faith of Christ, who is the Saviour of the 
body as well as the soul, and in whom the in- 
valuable promise is yea and amen to every 
soul that is interested in his finished salva- 
tion. God hath given us all things in Christ, 
whether life or death ; yea, we have the 
promise of the life that now is, and of that 
which is to come ; which promise even in- 
cludes **all things pertaining to life and god- 
liness." Happy is that soul that credits 
God's promise ; places his confidence in him 
for the fulfilment of it ; makes use of the 
means God has appointed ; daily pleads his 
promise in the humble prayer of faith; pa- 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 145 

tiently waits his time ; daily watches his 
hand ; hves in a holy expectation of a daily 
supply of spiritual and temporal mercies from 
the God of his salvation ; and who is humbly 
thankful to God for every favor that flows 
through the atoning blood and prevalent 
intercession of a dear Redeemer ! I say, let 
not such envy the crowned head nor sceptred 
hand ; for, if there be any virtue, or if there 
be any praise, if there be any serenity of 
mind, if any peace of conscience, if any honor 
to God, if any fruit brought forth to the glory 
of the Most High, it is to be found in such a 
soul ; and he, with the greatest propriety, 
may be said to think on these things. 



146 THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

When Providence had been exercising my 
faith and patience till the cupboard was quite 
empty, in answer to simple prayer he sent 
one of the largest hams that I ever saw. 
Indeed, I saw clearly that I had nothing to do 
but to pray, to study, and to preach ; for God 
took care for me, and my family also, agree- 
able to his own promise, '' Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and 
all these things shall be added unto you." 
And I have often thought the reason why our 
dear Lord and Master gave no inheritance to 
the Levitical tribe, who performed the sanc- 
tuary service, was, that they might learn to 
live by faith, and likewise to exercise and try 
the liberality of the worshipping tribes. And 
this appears to be the reason why the apostles 
were sent out to preach without purse or 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 147 

scrip. Certainly God could have sent them 
out as rich as the sanhedrim had he thought 
proper. But no; he left the blind priest to 
live on the offerings and tithes of the blind 
followers, as their portion; and it is to be 
feared that was the only portion that some of 
them ever had from God. But the poor 
apostles were to go out with only a portion of 
grace in their hearts ; and where they sowed 
those spiritual things, God opened the hearts 
of the converts to bring forth temporal things 
to them. And it often appeared that as 
soon as the grace of God had taken the 
government of a young convert's heart, his 
temporal riches appeared at the apostles' feet. 
Thus the gospel defrayed the expenses of the 
dispensers of it. And this I believe was 
intended to try the sincerity of the grace of 
those who were enabled to believe the gospel ; 
as Paul put some of his followers upon a like 
trial, and made liberality one of the touch- 
stones. *' See that ye come not behind in 
this grace also." Yea, and even our dear 
Lord and Master lived on the alms of his 
followers ; for, as soon as he was born, the 



148 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

Eastern sages opened their treasures, and 
presented unto him gold, frankincense, and 
myrrh ; and even until his crucifixion he lived 
on the liberality of his poor disciples, who 
were said to minister to him of their substance. 
It is true, Satan offered him all the kingdoms 
of the world, and the glory of them, upon 
certain conditions ; but he refused, choosing 
to suffer hunger rather than turn stones into 
bread to prove his Sonship, and please an 
accusing devil. 

Providence was pleased again to try me, 
till I run five guineas in debt. After I had 
prayed and waited some time, a gentleman 
belonging to the Stamp-ofifice ( a very faithful 
friend to me for many years together, during 
my state of extreme poverty), called upon 
me, and generously made me a present of 
five guineas, which paid off that debt. Oh, 
the goodness of God to those that fear his 
name and hope in his mercy ! He even sent 
a raven to feed the prophet Elijah, when he 
dwelt by the brook Cherith ; an angel, too, 
was sent from heaven to bake him a cake on 
a fire, and bring him a cruse of water, when, 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 149 

being weary, he slept under the juniper tree, 
in his road to Horeb. ** Arise and eat,'* said 
the celestial guest, ''for the journey is too 
great for thee " ( i Kings xix. 7 ). 

I now began to get quite weary of living at 
Thames Ditton, as I did not see that God 
had anything more for me to do there. His 
word had appeared a savor of life unto life 
to some few, and a savor of death unto 
death to many, who were indefatigable in 
opposing it. In short, I secretly longed to 
leave it, but was determined not to do so 
until I saw the Lord himself open the door ; 
for '' when he puts forth his own sheep, he 
goes before them." I was fully persuaded 
that I should end my ministry in London, 
and had long told a friend in town of it. An- 
other reason for my wanting to quit Ditton 
was the bad state of health that I felt myself 
in, which rendered me incapable of such long 
journeys and so much labor. But I have 
generally found God to kindle a desire in my 
heart after that which he intended to bring 
to pass. Thus, when the time came for 
Israel to leave Egypt, the spirit of supplica- 



150 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

tion was sent to make intercession in many 
of their hearts, after their deliverance from 
bondage ; and God told Moses he had heard 
the groanings of his people Israel, by reason 
of their task-masters ; and '' I am come down/' 
said God, **to deliver them." And so it will 
appear even in this matter when I have 
related it. 

After preaching at Wooking one evening, 
I returned home about twelve o'clock at 
night ; and before I could shift myself and 
take care of my horse, it was between one 
and two. Having an infant very ill, I told 
my wife that I would lie alone that night, as 
the child was so very restless I was apprehen 
sive I should get no rest myself, being very 
weary; and, having another journey to go 
the next day, I was fearful I should not be 
able to perform it unless I had some rest. 
Accordingly I went into another bed, and fell 
into a very sound sleep, when I dreamed ; 
and behold, in my dream, I thought I heard 
the Lord call to me with a very shrill, dis- 
tinct voice, saying, '* Son of man ! son of 
man, prophesy ! son of man, prophesy ! " I 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 151 

answered, '' Lord, what shall I prophesy ? " 
The voice came again, saying, '^ Prophesy 
upon the thick boughs." I immediately 
awoke, and felt a comfortable power on my 
heart, and thought the voice seemed fresh in 
my ears. I knew not what it meant, nor did 
I remember ever seeing such words as '^ thick 
boughs " in the Bible. However, I got up 
immediately and traced my Bible, to see if I 
could find those words there ; thinking that, 
if I could, I should conclude the dream to be 
from God. I soon found the words, and per- 
ceived the thick boughs to be men ( Ezek. 
xxxi. 3 ; xvii. 23 ). But what the command 
could mean, I could not then tell, because I 
was employed in prophesying on the boughs 
almost every day. I went into my wife's 
room and told her of it, but observed at the 
same time that I could not think what it 
meant, though I should certainly know here- 
after. The next day I came to London, and 
told it to Mr. Byrchmore, adding that I knew 
there was a mystery in it, and that, as it was 
from God, it would shortly be revealed to me. 
''God speaketh once, yea, twice, but man 



152 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

perceiveth it not ; in a dream, in a vision of 
the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, 
in slumbering upon the bed ; then he openeth 
the ears of men, and sealeth their instruc- 
tion*' (Job xxxiii. 14, 15). 

However, it passed on for some days en- 
tirely hid from me what the meaning could 
be. But I knew the vision would speak in 
time ; and, though it tarried some days, yet I 
waited for it (Hab. ii. 3). I likewise told 
Mr. Butler, another friend, of it ; but he did 
not seem to like it, as he wished me to stay 
• at Ditton. 

It so happened that shortly after this I 
was taken ill, and was obliged to be shut up 
in my room for two or three days, during 
which time I was ruminating in my own 
mind the conduct of the people at Ditton ; 
how long I had preached among them, and 
how unwearied they had been in persecuting 
the gospel of Christ ; and that, though God 
had cut off so many of them in their rebel- 
lion, yet they were still blind both to his 
mercies and to his judgments. As I had ap- 
peared in that place in the mean capacity of 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 153 

a coal-heaver, they would not allow themselves 
to think that God had sent such an one as me 
to preach to them. I then thought on my 
infirm state of body, and of the many weak- 
nesses I labored under, which were brought 
on me by living abstemiously, and by hard 
labor, and that I was bringing my years '' to 
an end like a tale that is told." And such is 
the policy of the devil that I believe he would 
counterfeit holiness, and tempt souls even to 
extreme abstinence, if he could by such 
means rid the world of an experienced be- 
liever, who he knows is a brazen wall and an 
iron tower against his interest ; for such have 
weathered all his beseigers ever since the un- 
justifiable war was proclaimed by the devil 
against God. In short, I secretly wished that 
God would remove me from that place. 

While musing in this manner it was sud- 
denly impressed on my mind to leave Thames 
Ditton, and to take a house in London ; that 
I should leave these little places in the coun- 
try, and preach in the great metropolis, where 
hearers were more numerous ; and that this 
was the meaning of the words that came to 



154 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

me in the vision, *' Prophesy, son of man, 
prophesy on the thick boughs." Under this 
impulse I found myself very happy, and was 
thankful to God for my intended removal, it 
seemed to me so clearly to be of him. I then 
told the Lord that they hated me because of 
my poverty and mean appearance; when 
these words came to my mind with power, 
'^A prophet is not without honor, save in his 
own country, and in his father's house." It 
was farther suggested to my mind that God 
had permitted them lately to persecute me 
more than usual, that they might wholly 
drive the gospel from them. And I much 
question if ever God sends his Word there 
again, for I think they are left almost as in- 
excusable as Chorazin and Capernaum, as no 
less than ten awful judgments had been con- 
spicuously executed on them in their rebel- 
lion against the Word, as is related in my 
Naked Bow of God. And I believe, in less 
than two years after I left that place, there 
w^ere no less than ten who w^ere awfully de- 
stroyed by themselves or others. But to 
return. I then sent for a friend of mine, one 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 155 

Mr. Felton, and informed him of it ; who 
said he thought me justifiable in leaving the 
place, observing also that a prophet has no 
honor in his own country. I then took my 
horse, rode to London, and informed some 
friends of it, every one of whom approved of 
my resolution. I accordingly took a house, 
and soon after ordered two carts from Lon- 
don to bring my household furniture from 
Ditton. Carts, I say, for I had no need of 
Joseph's wagons, as I had got but little in 
that inhospitable Canaan. 

Five years of the term being unexpired of 
the lease of the house I was going to leave, I 
pondered in my own mind the impropriety of 
quitting before it was let, being fearful it 
would lie on my hands, and that I should 
want the money I had paid for the fixtures to 
carry with me, and what I had expended in 
planting the garden. 

But my most blessed Banker provided 
against this trial also ; for it came to pass, 
just as I had loaded my goods, that a person 
came and asked me if I had let my house. I 
told him ''No." Upon which he repHed, ''I 



156 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

will take it of you, and buy your fixtures, 
your trees, and the garden crop also." In 
short, my landlord accepted him for his ten- 
ant, the lease was assigned over to him, the 
fixtures and plants appraised, the money paid 
down, the keys delivered up, and all was set- 
tled to my wish beyond all expectation. 
''Therefore, thou son of man, prepare the 
stuff for removings, and remove by day in 
their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy 
place to another place in their sight ; it may 
be they will consider, though they be a rebel- 
lious house" (Ezek. xii. 3). 

Thus far my vision appeared true. The 
next thing I had to observe was whether the 
boughs were thick or not ; because the voice 
in the vision was, ''Son of man, prophesy 
among the thick boughs." I then believed 
that the other part of the vision would be 
fulfilled, though all the world should oppose ; 
and, having opened a larger chapel than I 
preached in at first, seemed still to confirm it 
more and more. I have now lived to see the 
boughs too thick for the chapel to contain 
them ; and in this, as well as in everything 
else, I set to my seal "that God is true." 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 167 

When I first began to open my mouth for 
the Lord, the master for whom I carried 
coals was rather displeased; at which I do 
not wonder, as he was a Pharisee of the Phar- 
isees. I told him, however, that I should 
prophesy to thousands before I died ; and 
soon after the doors began to be opened to 
receive my message. When this appeared, 
and I had left the slavish employment of coal- 
carrying, others objected to my master 
against such a fellow as me taking up the 
office of a minister. His answer was, ^*Let 
him alone ; I once heard him say that he 
should prophesy to thousands before he died ; 
let us see whether this prophesy comes to 
pass or not." He had, as I suppose, that 
passage in view mentioned by Moses, ''And 
if thou say in thine heart. How shall I know 
the word which the Lord hath spoken.^ 
When a prophet speaks in the name of the 
Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to 
pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath 
not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it 
presumptuously ; thou shalt not be afraid of 
him." 



158 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

However, they very shortly saw that it 
came to pass, and in a very extraordinary 
manner too, for God opened four doors to me 
presently; and in a very little time brought 
me to preach out of doors. 

At my first beginning to speak in public, 
many professors and possessors of grace 
opposed me, as well as the world ; some from 
a principle of jealousy ; others from a prin- 
ciple of love, fearing that I should run before 
I was sent ; but they knew not the impulse 
that I was under. Of their oppositions to 
me, however, I often complained to God in 
prayer, telling him that I expected some de- 
gree of support and encouragement from his 
own children ; instead of which I had nothing 
but opposition, and a weakening of my hands. 
Indeed, some kept themselves at a distance 
from me, and have contradicted me at times, 
behaving quite insolent. In answer to my 
petitions the Lord applied these words to my 
heart, and gave me a strong faith in them : 
'^A man's gift maketh room for him, and 
bringeth him before great men " ( Prov. xviii. 
i6). At length I was led to see that I must 



THE BAITK OF FAITH. 159 

be weaned from the church as well as from 
the world ; and these words confirmed me in 
it, *' Trust ye not in a friend ; put ye no con- 
fidence in a guide ; keep the doors of thy 
mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom " 
( Micah vii. 5 ). '' The best of them is as a 
brier, the most upright is sharper than a 
thorn hedge " ( Micah vii. 4 ). 

God took an effectual method to convince 
many of his people of his having called me 
to the work of the ministry ; for it so hap- 
pened that a certain professor had engaged a 
minister to come from London and preach 
out of doors, at Moulsey on the Lord's day 
morning. This was published at our meet- 
ings, and as I had never heard a sermon out 
of doors, I was determined to go. As he 
was to preach at six o'clock in the morning, I 
could hear him without encroaching upon 
those hours in which our little church met. 
About three o'clock on the Lord's day morn- 
ing I arose ; but, as soon as I was out of bed, 
( pleasing myself at the thoughts of hearing 
a sermon, and having an opportunity of trying 
my doctrine by the standard of a London 



160 THE BASK OF FAITH. 

preacher), there came a voice to me with 
power, which I both heard and felt, saying, 
^' You must preach out of doors to-day, and 
you must preach from this text, ' Go 
therefore into the highways, and as many as 
ye find, bid to the marriage* " (Matt. xii. 9). 
I was much amazed at this sudden impulse ; 
yet I thought it was from God. If, however, 
I happened to mention any thing of the sort 
to some people, they would call it a delusion ; 
but, notwithstanding this, God generally 
showed me afterw^ards that thev themselves 
had but little, if any, experimental knowledge 
of God. 

I shall now relate every circumstance of 
this extraordinary affair, and leave the un- 
prejudiced to judge whether it was from God 
or from Satan. I sat down to look out the 
text, but could not find it. I then got up, and 
went to a friend about two miles oflF, who I 
knew had a httle Concordance. I called him 
up, and asked him to look me out such a text, 
which he accordingly did. I turned it down, 
put my Bible into my pocket, and went with 
him to hear the gentleman that was to come 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 161 

from London. When we came to the place, 
I saw a great many people gathered together, 
and the table was set for the preacher to 
stand on ; but behold he never came ! So we 
waited till seven o'clock, when every one of 
those who had formerly opposed me, begged 
me to get up and preach. I could not but 
admire the divine conduct in this matter, 
that those who had opposed me (some because 
my language was bad ; others, because they 
thought they had more understanding in the 
word than I had ; others, because I was but 
a babe in grace, and they of long standing ) 
were the very people who now invited me to 
preach. But here the cause of God was at 
stake, and there was now no answer in the 
mouth of any of those who had opposed me ; 
therefore they forced that person up, whom 
they before had tried, by their conduct, to 
pull down. I complied with their request, 
and went trembling up to my station. As 
soon, however, as my heart began to get 
warm in the cause, all my fears left me. I now 
delivered my message from the text God gave 
pie, and he was with me in the work. Then 



162 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

it was that some were ready to cry, '^ Ho- 
anna ! '* However, they had battered me 
about, that neither their applause nor their 
disapprobation had any weight with me. I 
often thought of the words spoken by EHphaz 
to Job. '* Call now, if there be any that will 
answer thee, and to which of the saints wilt 
thou turn .'^ " (Job v. i ). Turn! turn to 
none but God, for, as the most upright among 
men is but as a brier, and sharper than a thorn 
hedge, we have no reason, like Abraham's 
ram, to hang our horns in a bush, lest we fall 
a sacrifice. ** Cease from man, whose breath 
is in his nostrils," says the Almighty, "for 
wherein is he to be accounted of.?" But 
there was a young widow who came to hear 
me preach that first sermon ; and Providence 
opened her heart, so that she attended to the 
things spoken by the coal-heaver, and heard 
the gospel constantly afterward. At last 
she was seized with most violent convictions, 
being obliged to leave her place, and go home 
to Esher work-house, where a doctor was 
sent for to put a blister on her head ; which 
is not a very proper remedy to draw out the 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 163 

bane of guilt, where the sting of death has so 
fatally envenomed the conscience. At times 
they found her quite delirious, and then she 
called earnestly on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
They then shook her, abused her for praying, 
and declared her mad ; and when they found 
she had been among the Methodists, it was 
easily accounted for ; therefore they handled 
her accordingly. But when she got a little 
better, she sent for me to come and pray 
by her, which I accordingly did ; and then 
she told me of their cruel usage to her. I 
spoke to my wife about it ; and we borrowed 
a bed, and got her home to our house. My 
wife nursed her body, and I tried to nurse 
her soul ; soon after which she got well in 
body, and happy in mind. Then she took a 
lodging, worked for her bread, and continued 
to sit under my ministry for about six years. 
At last she fell into a deep decline, and soon 
took to her bed ; and for two or three days 
before her death she was violently tempted 
and distressed, even beyond measure. After 
this she came forth from that dark cloud, 
shining like the rising sun ; and continued in 



164 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

these blessed rays of glory till she closed her 
eyes in death, launching forth into eternity 
in all the triumph of a gospel conqueror. 
And here is the end of that mystery. 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 165 



CHAPTER IX. 

I WILL give my reader an account of 
another providence. A person came from 
Richmond to hear me preach at Ditton ; and 
when he returned, informed several persons 
that he approved of my ministry. They 
accordingly sent me an invitation to come 
over to Richmond and help them ; but I re- 
fused to go. However, they sent for me a 
second time, when I again refused. At last 
they went to the shoemaker I then worked 
for, who persuaded me to go, but not to 
preach in the chapel, but in a house that was 
licensed. I went very reluctantly indeed, 
but when I came there, I found the Lord's 
presence sweetly with me ; and, at their 
request, I went again on the Tuesday follow- 
ing. Soon after I found I had done wrong in 
going there, though God had been powerfully 



166 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

with me ; for it came to pass that tidings 
had been carried to London, and had reached 
the ears of two professing gentlemen, who 
were the managers of Richmond chapel. 
Whereupon they came down to Richmond to 
make inquisition whether any coal-heaver had 
ever presumed to preach the gospel to the 
poor souls at that place. Upon inquiry the 
thing was found to be certain, and the tidings 
were true ; so the man and woman at whose 
house I had preached, received a very sharp 
reprimand, and were threatened also with the 
penal sum of fifty pounds, for letting me 
preach in their house, because I was not at 
that time properly licensed. Soon after this a 
day was appointed for preaching and prayer at 
Richmond chapel, and a dinner ordered at an 
inn for all the congregation that chose to dine 
there, and pay for it. Two ministers were 
appointed to preach on that occasion — after 
the commandments of men, and not after 
Christ. An old gentleman took his text out 
of the Acts, and preached from these words : 
*'And when Barnabas saw the grace of God 
he was glad," etc. Surely there was nothing 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 167 

in the text against my preaching at Rich- 
mond, for I was as glad to see the grace of 
God as ever Barnabas was. But he turned 
his text into a nose-of-wax, in order to make 
it fit my face ; and told the people they 
might readily suppose that Barnabas had his 
credentials, or credential letters from the 
elders that were at Jerusalem ; and so out of 
that supposition he spun a cat-o'-nine-tails to 
lash me with — a man whom he had never 
seen. But where I was to go for credentials 
I knew not ; had he required credentials from 
God I could have produced them. Had I 
been there, I think I should have asked him 
whether that sermon had been from heaven 
or of men ; however, at the long run, it 
appeared to be of men, because it came to 
naught. These things wonderfully distressed 
and puzzled me ; first, because the people 
sent three times after me before I would go 
at all ; and, secondly, the presence and power 
of God seemed so visible to my comfort, and 
the comfort of those that heard me ; and yet 
I was puzzled, that these great men, who 
were called Christians, should oppose me so 



168 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

much. The people, however, determined to 
hear me ; and I generally found God with me 
in the work, notwithstanding which I always 
went reluctantly. In this matter I set off to 
an arm of flesh for counsel; though the 
presence of God was counsel sufficient, had I 
been wise enough to have rested on it. How- 
ever, I was not as yet weaned from an arm 
of flesh ; therefore I went to ask counsel at 
Abel, and so hoped to end the matter. The 
counsel I received from the good man I con- 
sulted (after I had related the whole circum- 
stance to him ) was, that I should stay away 
from preaching there, as it gave offence to 
some great men. I took his advice, and came 
home much eased in my mind, and glad that 
I could so get my neck out of the yoke. But, 
when the Tuesday following arrived, being 
the day on which I was appointed to preach 
at Richmond, I found the broken reed on 
which my foolish soul had rested began to 
give way, and I sunk again under all my dis- 
tresses. Then it came into my mind how that 
God had comforted me in the work. And, if 
the supporting arm and comforting presence 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 169 

of God are not a sufficient testimony of God's 
approbation, we are not likely to get one 
from man. I still doubted, however, whether 
I should not offend God by trusting to this 
human counsel ; thinking, if God had called 
me to preach at Richmond, and I should stay 
away when the little flock expected me, 1 
should much offend the righteous Majesty of 
heaven, and be disobedient to the heavenly 
call ; and, if it was wrong for me to go, I 
could appeal to God I had no desire for it. 
As to selfish views, I had none ; for one 
night they collected a parcel of money for 
me, knowing how poor I was, and how much 
I had suffered in the work ; which they 
thrust into my pocket by force. But I pos- 
itively refused it, and insisted on having no 
more than eighteen pence for my trouble in 
going from Ditton to Richmond to preach. 
It now came suddenly into my mind to lay 
this matter before my blessed Lord and 
Master, who never disappointed nor deceived 
me in his counsel. I therefore left my cob- 
bhng, went into my chamber, and prayed in 
'the following manner: *'0h, God my Saviour 



170 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

and dear Redeemer, thou knowest I have no 
desire to go and preach at Richmond, but 
the people came after me several times. If 
thou hast any thing to do there by me, in- 
cline my heart to go, let who will oppose it ; 
but, if not, let not thy servant presume, as 
my heart has no desire to go there ; and, as I 
would not offend thy Majesty either by 
going or staying, I beseech thee to convince 
me by the first scripture that occurs to my 
mind. Oh, Lord, reveal thy mind and will to 
me in this particular, and let me not offend 
thee, as I am willing to obey thy voice, if 
thou art pleased to make it known to me. 
Amen." 

As soon as I arose from my knees these 
words came with power to my mind, *'Be not 
weary in well-doing, for in due time ye shall 
reap if ye faint not." This gave me some 
comfort. But, when I went and sat down to 
my cobbling again, I began to reason thus : 
*^Be not weary in well-doing — true; but if it 
is displeasing to God for me to go to Richmond, 
then it would be well-doing to stay at home; 
and, if it be displeasing to God for me to 



THE BANK OF FAITH, l7l 

stay at home, then it would be well-doing for 
me to go and preach at Richmond." So, like 
Gideon, I tried the fleece once more, and 
said to myself that, if God should give a text 
and a sermon on it, I should think it was 
from him, and that I had a just right to carry 
God's message. I had no sooner made this a 
criterion than these words came with power 
and understanding: *'And his brightness was 
as the light ; he had horns coming out of his 
hand, and there was the hiding of his power" 
(Hab. iii. 3, 4). The second and third verses 
of the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy I 
found were a key to this text. I therefore 
arose and went, being determined to deliver 
that message there at that time only, and 
then to inform them that I would come there 
no more. But before I began to preach I 
earnestly begged of God to comfort the peo- 
ple greatly, if he approved of my preaching 
to them ; and, if not, that he would send 
them away dejected, and shut me up till I 
had little or nothing to say to them. In that 
night God blessed us wonderfully ; and when 
I had done I hesitated whether I should in- 



172 THE BAXK OF FAITH. 

form them of my intention of not coming 
again, as it so offended the managers. But 
these words came to my mind: ^^And he 
said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles 
exercise lordship over them, and they that 
exercise authority upon them are called ben- 
efactors. But ye shall not be so ; but he that 
is greatest among you, let him be as the 
younger ; and he that is chief as he that doth 
serve" (Luke xxii. 25, 26). Having re- 
ceived these words, I published myself to 
preach there again the next Tuesday, being 
fully convinced that no proprietor of a build- 
ing had any warrant from God to keep a gos- 
pel message from the ears and hearts of 
God's children, unless they could prove the 
messenger either erroneous or wicked, which 
they could not, for they had never either seen 
or heard me. 

After I had preached there a few times, it 
came to pass one evening, when I had fin- 
ished my sermon, that a person came to in- 
form me that a woman (who was lately taken 
very ill, and was apparently near death ) de- 
sired to see me. I accordingly went ; and. 




THE BANK OF FAITH, 173 

when I came to her bedside, asked her if she 
had sent for me. She replied, "Yes." I 
asked her what she had sent for me to do. 
She said to pray by her, I asked her what I 
was to pray for — that she might be raised 
up again } She repUed, " No ; pray God to 
give resignation to his will, and that he may 
not depart from me." I asked her if she was 
sure the Lord was with her. She said, "Yes." 
I asked her how she came by the knowledge 
of God's comfortable presence. She told me 
she was a native of Scotland, where she had 
often heard people speak of their comforts 
and peace, but used to envy them for it, and 
at other times thought they spoke nonsense ; 
but still she found a secret want of something 
which she had long sought ; and she told me 
that she had never found that power until I 
preached the sermon from the text in Hab- 
bakuk, "He had horns coming out of his 
hands, and there was the hiding of his 
power." " Under that discourse," said she, 
"the Spirit of power came to me. My hus- 
band is a stone-mason, and is gone to Ireland 
to be the foreman of a very lar^e building 



174 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

there, and I am in time to go after him, if 
God spares my life ; but, as my good man has 
left me for a time, the Almighty has come in 
his room." She now gave me a very sweet 
account of the operations of the Holy Ghost, 
and of the precious liberty which he pro- 
claimed by the revelation and application of 
Christ crucified to her understanding mind 
and conscience. These tidings made my 
bowels yearn, as I could call to my remem- 
brance the soul-travail I had been exercised 
with on the day that the text was brought to 
my mind, and the blessed mystery that was 
opened to me in it, as also God's goodness in 
accompanying it with such power to her soul, 
and now to lay her on a sick bed, that she 
might send for me, to inform me that I had 
not preached nor travailed in vain. Oh, the 
conversion of such souls is greater riches to 
me than all the treasures of Egypt ! God in 
mercy soon after raised her up again, and she 
attended my ministry for about two years, 
appearing a most amiable Christian. 

The conversion of this woman seemed to 
me such a testimony from God that it con- 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 175 

firmed me more in my call to preach at Rich- 
mond than the testimony of all the divines in 
Britain would have done ; for, ^'if we receive 
the witness of men, the witness of God is 
greater/* I hope never to despise the former, 
but choose to stick close by the latter. 

I shall now return to my subject of leaving 
Ditton and coming to settle in London. 

After having seen so much of the vision 
fulfilled, I began to watch for the develop- 
ment of the words thick boughs. I knew 
thick boughs in Ezekiel's prophecy meant 
sinners, and the boughs of the palm-tree in 
the song of Solomon meant saints; therefore, 
if I could see my ministry well attended, 
either with sinners or saints, the whole vision 
would appear evidently to be from God ; for, 
if the Lord speaks, it is done ; and if he com- 
mands, it comes to pass. 

After I had been some time in London, I 
found our chapel in Margaret street was open 
to every erroneous preacher. This stirred 
up the hearts of my hearers to look out for 
another place for me, and very soon a larger 
chapel was proposed to be built. This still 



176 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

appeared to pave the way more and more for 
the fulfilment of the words brought to my 
mind, ''prophesy on the thick boughs." The 
chapel was soon erected, and the good hand 
of our God was with us in the work, to our 
comfort. But when it was opened, I saw the 
strong opposition it would meet with from 
every quarter. This at first rather surprised 
me; but soon after these words returned on 
my mind, ''prophesy on the thick boughs.'* 
I was enabled to rest on them, and gathered 
much comfort to my soul from the considera- 
tion of its being opposed; for I have ever 
observed that when a work has appeared to 
be of God, it has generally met with the 
greatest opposition ; and when a cause flour- 
ishes in the face of many opposers, it appears 
still plainer to be God's work. The fewer 
human props there are to support the ark, 
the clearer God's hand is perceived; for then 
God appears to work, and none can let it 
though they try at it. In this way God, 
endears himself to the instrument he em 
ploys, weans the instrument from the creat- 
ure, and secures all the glory to himself. I 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 177 

have often thought that if Martin Luther, 
John Bunyan, or George Whitefield had been 
alive in my days, they would rather have 
invited me than shut me out of their pulpits. 
However, I believe I shall still prophesy on 
the thick boughs ; and according to my faith, 
so it will be unto me. I have found my very 
soul at times melted down with gratitude at 
the goodness of God to so unworthy a creat- 
ure as myself, when I have heard that several 
good people in London have asked great 
men, employed under God, to let me preach 
in their pulpits, as Margaret street chapel 
was too small for me; but this favor could 
not be granted. I thought my case was simi- 
lar to that of poor, sore-eyed Leah, who said, 
**The Lord saw that I was despised, therefore 
he gave me this son also.'* And I have now 
reason to conclude with her that God hath 
endowed me with a good dowry of spiritual 
children, though he saw that I was hated, 
and these spotted sheep shall be for my hire 
when they shall appear before the Lord ; so 
shall the righteousness which I have preached 
answer for me in that day when my ministry 



178 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

and the seals of it shall appear before God to 
witness for me. 

I will now inform my reader of the kind 
providence of my God at the time of building 
the chapel, which I named Providence chapel, 
and also mention a few free-will offerings 
which the people brought. 

They first offered about eleven pounds, and 
laid it on the foundation at the beginning of 
the building. A good gentleman, with whom 
I had but little acquaintance, and of whom I 
bought a load of timber, sent it to me with a 
bill and receipt in full, as a present to the 
chapel of Providence. Another good man 
came with tears in his eyes, and blessed me, 
and desired to paint my pulpit, desk, etc., as 
a present to the chapel. Another person 
gave half a dozen chairs for the vestry ; and 
my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Lion, furnished me 
with a tea-chest well stored, and a set of 
china. My good friends, Mr. and Mrs. 
Smith, furnished me with a very handsome 
bed, bedstead, and all its furniture and neces- 
saries, that I might not be under the necessity 
of walking home in the cold winter nights. 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 179 

A daughter of mine in the faith gave me a 
looking-glass for my chapel study. Another 
friend gave me my pulpit cushion, and a 
book-case for my study. Another gave me a 
book-case for the vestry. And my good 
friend, Mr. E., seemed to level all his dis- 
pleasure at the devil ; for he was in hopes I 
should be enabled, through the gracious arm 
of the Lord, to cut Rahab in pieces ; there- 
fore he furnished me with a sword of the 
spirit, a new Bible, with morocco binding 
and silver clasps. 

But I shall show that I have yet to speak 
on the behalf of Providence, which was so 
conspicuous in furnishing me with money 
necessary for building the chapel. I never 
went to one person to borrow money for 
the building who denied me. God so opened 
their hearts that I was amazed at his provi- 
dence and their kindness towards me. 

Some time after these things, God seemed 
wholly to withdraw his conspicuous provi- 
dential acts ; and I began to lay aside my 
watchfulness and daily dependence on his 
bounties, as my stated income began to be 



180 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

tolerable. However, it is the safest and 
sweetest way to live from hand to mouth, as 
say those who speak in proverbs ; for it is 
impossible that men should be so grateful to 
God when they have a stock in hand as when 
they receive a daily supply from the never- 
failing stock in God's hand. After some 
little time I was forced to look to him again 
for temporals as well as spirituals ; for as my 
income increased, my family increased also ; 
so that I was shortly brought into as great 
straits as ever ; money began to run short, 
and clothes were wanting. But God, who 
fainteth not, neither is weary, was pleased to 
appear in a way of providence again ; and 
after this manner showed he himself. 

I had been doing a little work in my flower 
garden, and finding that it wanted a few 
additional roots, I went to a garden at a little 
distance from my house to look over a few 
things. While I was walking about by 
myself among the flowers, a well-dressed 
motherly-looking woman stepped up to me, 
and supposing me to be the gardener (for 
my appearance was more like a slave than a 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 181 

prelate), she thus addressed me in a free and 
jocose manner, ''Now, Mr. Gardener, if you 
please, I want a root to put in my pot ; and 
it must be a root that will last." I looked up 
very seriously at the lady, and replied, ''Well, 
I believe I can tell you where you may get 
such a root.'^ At this answer she smilingly 
asked, " Where } " I answered, " In the 
book of Job; for he says, 'The root of the 
matter is found in me' (Job xix. 28 ). And if 
you can get that root into your pot, both the 
root and the pot will last for ever." She 
then asked, "And pray have you got that 
root in you.^" I answered her, "I verily 
believe I have." Upon which she replied, 
" It is well with you, and it is very true what 
you have said." I then told her that I was 
not the gardener, but that she would find him 
at the bottom of the garden, attending some 
ladies and gentlemen. She dropped a cour- 
tesy, and departed with a smile. I thought, 
by her pertinent reply, that she was not 
altogether ignorant of that " wisdom which 
dwells with prudence, and finds out knowl- 
edge of witty inventions" (Prov. viii. 12). 



182 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

And I secretly wished that the words which 
I had spoken might dwell on her mind until 
the root of gospel love struck an everlasting 
fibre in her heart. 

I believe the lady above mentioned inquired 
of the gardener who I was ; for soon after 
both she and her spouse came to hear me, 
and have continued so to do ever since. God 
grant that the word of his grace may take 
deep root in their hearts, that they may be 
'^ trees of righteousness, the right-hand plant- 
ing of God, that he may be glorified." 

Some time after this there came a person 
to my house, and left a letter, the contents of 
which were as follows : 

/*I wish you would be at home on such a 
day, if convenient ; as a person will call to 
measure you for a great coat, which you are 
desired to accept, and to ask no questions of 
the person who comes to measure you," etc. 

I looked upon this letter as sent from some 
enemy to the gospel of Christ ; because it 
came soon after my Bank of Faith had made 
its appearance in the world ; and I daily heard 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 183 

of some professor or other ridiculing it, 
because I had therein taken notice of very 
insignificant things, at least in their opinion. 
However, had they been exercised with a 
hungry belly, as the prophet Elijah was, they 
would have been glad of a cake baked with 
two sticks, and have thanked God for com- 
manding the widow woman to sustain him 
with that (i Kings xvii. 9). The Holy 
Ghost through this kind providence of God, 
which appeared in sending the prophet that 
cake, thought this worthy of divine revela- 
tion ; if so, of what kind of spirit must those 
professors be who deem the special and 
minute interference of Providence worthy 
only of their public scorn and contempt ? 
Such men are rebuked even by the brute 
creation ; for '^the ox knoweth his owner, and 
the ass his master's crib," but the carnal 
professor knoweth not the God of his mercies ; 
and although he loves the crib, yet he doth 
not consider who it is that keeps his crib full. 
I was deceived in supposing that the letter 
was sent as a trap to keep me at home on 
such a day, that they might have to laugh at 



184 THE BAXK OF FAITH. 

my vain expectation, as I conjectured ; for it 
was sent by a friend ; and the man came as 
was appointed to measure me for a great 
coat. I asked who sent him. He told me 
that was to be kept secret. But, as I sus- 
pected the letter to be a cheat sent by some 
enemy, I insiste^d on knowino; who sent him. 
He then said that he was sent by a woman 
who once asked me for a root to put in her 
pot. I told him that I had got two very good 
great coats, but stood in need of a close- 
bodied one ; and, if the lady thought proper 
to make me a present of such, I should be 
obhged to her ; but that I had no need of a 
great coat. The man measured me, and 
brought me the coat home. I offered him a 
small present for his trouble ; but he refused 
it, savins; that he had received orders not to 
take any thing. Christian reader, give God 
the glory for his wonderful works, and let not 
foi'tune and luck rob him of his honor. " Jesus 
we know, but who are they .^ " 

When I laid the foundation of the chapel I 
was twenty pounds in debt for the necessaries 
of life, and when I had finished it I was in 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 185 

arrears one thousand pounds more ; so that I 
had plenty of work for faith, if I could but 
get plenty of faith to work ; and while some 
deny a Providence, Providence was the only 
resource I had. I had forty-seven pounds 
per annum ground rent, and almost fifty 
pounds per annum for interest, a large 
chapel, and a small congregation ; and those 
who lent me the money a poor, industrious 
people, and weak in faith, being but young 
in the ways of God ; and there were plenty 
of hypocrites in Zion to tell them that all who 
had a hand in that chapel would burn their 
fingers. If God sends Moses and Aaron to 
preach, Satan sends Jannes and Jambres to 
oppose ; and if Zerubbabel and Joshua begin 
to build, Sanballat and Tobiah are raised 
up to discourage them. And here I must 
bring in a circumstance which is truly laugh- 
able. A gentleman had for some time fre- 
quented Margaret-street Chapel, and to all 
appearance was a very penitent hearer, as 
he was generally bedewed with tears ; but 
whether they were tears of misery from a 
sense of sin, or tears of gratitude from a 



186 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

sense of pardon, I knew not ; but I have been 
convinced since that they were neither. This 
good gentleman came to us when the chapel 
was in building, and hearing the builder say 
he should want some window sills, and some 
columns to stand in the cellerto support the 
ground floor, he generously offered his service 
to go into the country to buy them, as he had 
formerly been in the wood way himself. This 
kind offer was gratefully accepted ; and 
another gentleman offered him his horse to 
go on. He accordingly received his orders 
of the length of the columns, the size of the 
heart at the small end, and that they must 
be the ground ends of young trees, able to 
support the weight they were intended to 
bear. So off he went, and in a day or two 
returned, and informed several of my friends 
that he had saved me three pounds by the 
journey, which to me was something con- 
siderable. Soon after his return the timbers 
came, but by no means fit for the purpose 
they were designed, being only the limbs of 
large oaks, small, and not one straight among 
them. The builder appeared disgusted at 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 187 

them, and ordered the carter to reload them 
and take them home to his own house, which 
he accordingly did. The builder then went 
over the water and bought a fine, large, 
straight stick, at the price of nine pounds, 
and intended to cut it into proper lengths, 
and quarter it ; which when, our kind friend 
saw, he got a cart and brought his materials 
back again, and threw them down on the 
premises, which rather hindered than helped 
us. He then delivered the bill to me, which, 
to the best of my remembrance, was five 
pounds seven shillings, which, with three 
pounds that he had saved me by the bargain, 
made them worth eight pounds seven shil- 
lings, I offered to pay his bill, and to make 
him a present of the timber if he would 
accept it ; but he would not, nor could we use 
it ; so that this good man's favors became a 
hinderance rather than a help. At last I 
resolved to have them valued, and sent for a 
timber merchant, who attended me to value 
them. He valued them at two guineas. But 
thinking the gentleman might undervalue 
them through partiality to me, I sent for an 



188 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

entire stranger, who was a timber merchant 
also, and he fixed their price at forty shillings. 
Upon this my good friend took the materials 
away, and for this price he sold them, clear- 
ing much less for himself than he saved me. 
But to return to my subject. These were 
the difficulties I had to surmount ; and for 
three years together I lost ground, for Satan 
waylaid me in a path which I knew to be 
charity. My bowels were moved to extricate 
from debt a man that I took to be a fallen 
saint, nor could all the inward checks God 
gave me stop me from embarking in this 
good work, though I had many. He cost me 
forty guineas ; and when God unmasked the 
hypocrite, then I saw where the inward cau- 
tion came from. Three chapels were opened 
about the same time not far from mine, and 
one set up an additional lecture, In order to 
keep the sheep from straying ; but the inward 
anointing taught me that by these means I 
should see more clearly the hand of God, for 
where there is no opposition there is no sal- 
vation ; and where a multitude of hands are 
employed in one work, it is not so easy to see 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 189 

the distinguishing approbation of the em- 
ployer. I must stand alone, and work alone, 
that I might not say a confederacy, nor rely 
on human aid. Paul's companions all for- 
sook him at Nero's bar, that by him the 
preaching might be fully known ; for Paul's 
doctrine was immediately from Christ, but 
theirs mediately from him. 

After this blank of forty guineas loss, 
another borrowed three more, and another 
ten pounds, neither of which ever paid a mite 
again ; and soon after thirty pounds were de- 
manded for the follies of my youth, and 
another thirty pounds for rent for the chapel 
I had left ; and thirty guineas more for a 
law-suit about a little meeting-house for which 
I had collected forty pounds to build at Sun- 
bury, in Middlesex. All these blanks, at 
three years' end, set me down just where I 
began ; and all this time my income was only 
twenty-five pounds per quarter, and my 
children at one time nine in number. This 
sailing against wind and tide not only tried 
the faith of the debtor, but it exercised the 
faith of my poor creditors also, for if I could 



190 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

not go on, they must go back ; nevertheless, 
most of them exercised more patience than I 
could, though I could do no more than just 
keep the interest paid up. At length God 
enabled me to put out several little books, 
which were almost universally exclaimed 
against, both by preachers and professors, 
and by these means God sent them into all 
winds ; so that I soon rubbed off one hundred, 
and soon after another, so that in a short time 
I had reduced my thousand pounds down to 
seven hundred. The booksellers in general 
would neither countenance nor circulate the 
works, being influenced, as I suppose, by 
some of their employers. But as the work- 
man began to be known, so the works spread ; 
and what some despised others admired ; and 
the doctrine that starved the self-sufflcient 
fattened the poor in spirit. People who 
attended my ministry, coming from various 
parts of the country, often bought them, and 
sent them down among their friends. By 
these means they made their way where I 
was not permitted to go myself. But it often 
happened that where they came the preachers 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 191 

warned the people much against them, which 
frequently excited the curiosity of some to 
read them ; and if they found any thing in 
them that suited their cases, they judged by 
the unction they felt. They are calculated in 
some measure to suit the earnest inquirer ; 
the soul in bondage, in the furnace, in the 
path of tribulation, or in the strong hold of 
Satan; and I have heard of them from Wales, 
from Scotland, from Ireland, from various 
parts of America, from Cadiz in Spain, from 
Alexandria in Egypt, and I believe from both 
the East and West Indies. And as they have 
fallen in divers hands, I accordingly received 
various reports ; many vilifying and scur- 
rilous letters from different parts ; and, to 
counterbalance these, many letters of bless- 
ings to God and thanks to the author ; which, 
put together, make it to be the good old 
beaten path : '^ through evil report and good 
report, as deceivers and yet true." 



192 THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER X. 

As the chapel filled, and the people 
approved, of course my pedigree, my resi- 
dence, my station in the camp, my family and 
fortune, were inquired into ; and that at a 
time when some of my creditors wanted 
their money. In a short time after this de- 
mand, a small number of gentlemen offered 
to lend me one hundred pounds, without 
either note of hand or interest ; and, being a 
little from each of them, they took it as God 
prospered me, till all was cleared. But poor 
men's difficulties, like woman's work, are 
never done, for soOn after fifty pounds more 
was called in, besides many little debts which 
were contracted while the former sums were 
paying off; -so that I was encompassed about 
with a whole crowd of creditors ; and who 
can expect less who make themselves debtors 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 193 

to all ? A gentleman of the city, who had a 
little house at Peckham, asked me to go on a 
week-day evening to preach in that neigh- 
borhood, and to take a supper and bed at his 
house, which I agreed to ; and, being without 
either purse or scrip, gold or silver, when I 
set off, I called on my invaluable and never- 
failing friend, Mr. Baker, of Oxford street, 
and asked him if there was any of the chapel 
money in his hands. To my great comfort 
he told me. No ; so I borrowed a few shillings 
and set off. But, that I might give vent to 
my grief, and bemoan my hard fate in secret, 
I called a coach, and got in, the devil follow- 
ing me ; so we went together, and I had not 
one six-penny or shilling debt in all the world 
but what the devil set before me, together 
with various prisons for poor debtors ; and 
aggravated my misery by setting before me 
the power of God to help me if he would, the 
wealth that he gave to many wicked persons, 
and his hard dealings with those that loved 
him. But at length recollecting myself, I 
bantered the devil. I said, '' Satan, has thou 
got any cash by thee.'^ if thou hast, bring it. 



194 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

I do not care where you get it, bring it if you 
have any, I will receive it, and thank God for 
it ; but, if thou art as poor as myself, let my 
debts alone." The devil left me at this. 
^'Resist the devil,'' says God, ''and Jie will 
flee from yo7i ;'' and so he did, and my soul 
was delivered as a roe from the hand of 
the hunter, or as a bird from the hand of the 
fowler. When I came to the end of St. 
George's Fields, I got out and walked the 
rest of the way, and that night had a glorious 
time in the Lord's work ; Satan had for a 
season left me, and I returned in the power 
of the Spirit. I spent a comfortable evening 
with my friends, and had a most uncommon 
time in prayer by myself at going to bed, and 
a most sweet frame of meekness, gratitude, 
and godly sorrow, given me when in bed ; 
and in the morning I arose sweetly becalmed, 
and much resigned to the will of God. How- 
ever, on my way home, the old serpent set at 
me again ; but, having found faith strong in 
exercise over night, he could not make those 
inroads on my soul as he had done the day 
before. I called on my dear friends, Mr. and 




THE BANK OF FAITH, 195 

Mrs. Baker, and told them that I should 
shortly have a liftup, as I usually called it ; 
and that I had got it already in faith, and 
should shortly have it in hand. On the next 
Sunday morning a gentleman of the city 
came into the vestry to me, with a bank note 
in his hand, and gave it to me, saying, ** I am 
desired to give you that." I asked who it 
came from. He replied, '^You do not know 
the person ; you never spoke to him but 
once ; but he told me that it was strong upon 
his mind that you was in want, and he put it 
into his pocket for you last Thursday, and it 
had burnt in it ever since, but he knew not 
how to convey it to you.'' That same Thurs- 
day was the day Satan had beset me so vio- 
lently ; and while Satan was reproaching me 
with my debts, God's good Spirit was preach- 
ing to that gentleman to lessen them. Upon 
this a gentleman, to whom God had made me 
useful, generously offered to lend me eighty 
pounds to answer my present demands, and 
to take it of me as I could pay it ; this I 
gladly accepted, and then answered the pres- 
ent demand of those gentlemen who at times 



196 THE BANK OF FAITH 

stood in need of their money. At this time 
a gentleman from Bristol came frequently 
to hear me, and invited me to that place ; 
to which I consented, and was to have a 
letter previous to the time of my going 
thither. After some time waiting, the letter 
came, and when it came my pocket was 
empty ; but at that juncture a letter came 
from a lady in the country, with a twenty- 
pound note in it. With part of this I took my 
journey to Bristol, as Joseph and Mary took 
theirs to Egypt with the wise men's gold 
presented to Christ in the stable. Soon after 
my return, I, one night, in my discourse in 
the city, opened my mind freely and scriptur- 
ally upon the use and end of the law of God, 
describing who were under it and who not. 
A great man, next to a great woman, hap- 
pened to be there, who had light enough to see 
my darkness, and from that time sounded the 
alarm, and preached up the law, till he was 
ten times blinder than I was. This alarm 
spread, and most pulpits rang with warnings 
against antinomianism. This terrified the peo- 
ple, and many fled from me ; some halted, and 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 197 

some few abode. However, the continual 
warnings on every hand soon reduced a 
crowded audience to a very small number, 
and the longer I preached the fewer I had, 
till I was sure the small number could not 
defray the expenses attending the lecture. 
And now was the time for my old enemy to 
work. He condemned my doctrine ; which I 
did not wonder at, as an accuser has nothing 
to work upon but sin, nor anything to work 
by but a broken law, for where there is no 
law there is no transgression, and where 
there is no transgression there can be no 
accusation. He harassed me with the great 
number of divines all against me, with my 
debts also, with the visible disapprobation of 
God by the almost general absence of the 
whole congregation ; and, last of all, that my 
own poor pocket must defray the expenses of 
the place, and that money was the property 
of others, and it is the wicked that borrow 
and pay not again. That Tuesday was a 
day of darkness and gloominess to me. How- 
ever, I replied, that God was not tied to that 
congregation, he could discharge the debts I 



198 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

should contract by keeping open that place 
many other ways, and therefore I determined 
to continue there till there were but ten to 
hear. That night the number was much 
greater than the time before; and the same 
night I received a letter with these words, 
*' Sir, I have the honor of being a steward to 
your Master, and am at times intrusted with 
a trifle for the benefit of his servants, and I 
know of none more worthy than yourself/' 
And that was all, except a ten-pound note, 
which bore me through that quarter ; and 
from that night w^e increased, till the house 
was filled with guests. *' Bless the Lord, O 
my soul, and all that is within me bless his 
holy name.'* 

Being informed that the house I then dwelt 
in was to be sold, and being desired by my 
landlord to admit any person into it that 
came, unsettled my mind exceedingly, inter- 
rupted me in my studies and in my writing. 
However, sold it must be, and sold it was ; 
and I, being a tenant at will, must prepare my 
stuff for removing. Some of my friends 
attended the sale on my behalf, but the price 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 199 

ran too high. As it was but a leasehold, a 
person in the neighborhood, a possessor of 
much money and a professor of religion (who 
was resolved to have it ), bought it for him- 
self and family. I had expended a few 
pounds in paving the walk to the door and 
the yard behind the house, which the auction- 
eer said should be paid to me, but that pay 
never came. 

Some few days were spent in looking 
after a house, and at length one presented 
itself which was empty, and had stood empty 
for some time ; the rent was double to that 
which I was leaving, that being twenty 
pounds per annum, this forty. Nevertheless 
I took it, longing to be settled somewhere. 
I got the keys, and immediately began to 
move, though it was six or seven weeks 
before the time expired of my other house, 
for the which I must pay rent, having entered 
upon that quarter. When I had removed all 
my goods I lent the gentleman who had 
bought the premises the keys of the house, 
that he might get it in order for his own 
reception, for which he was much pleased 



200 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

and kindly thanked me; but he soon requited 
me for my kindness by sending me an attor- 
ney's letter for taking up a little favorite tree 
which I had planted. Satan, upon this, 
tempted me to take out my knife and cut off 
another of my own planting close by the 
ground. But vengeance belongeth to God, 
and he will repay ; and so I found it, for in 
less than nine months my successor and his 
wife were both in their graves, and the house 
sold again. They removed me, and God 
removed them. 

My new habitation being so much larger 
than the other, my little furniture was almost 
lost in it. However, the unerring and never- 
failing providence of God, which has, in uni- 
formity with his word of promise, incessantly 
followed me and presided over me all my 
days, most conspicuously appeared at this 
time also. A lady in the country sent me, in 
a letter, a forty-pound bank note. A gentle- 
man in the city gave me a handsome new 
bureau and two mahogany elbow chairs. 
Another gentleman sent me a new handsome 
chamber-chair with stuffed back and sides, 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 201 

and a handsome cover and cushion. While 
another, who came to see my new habitation, 
said, ''My friend, I think you want a carpet 
for this large room," and left me a ten-pound 
note to purchase one. And here I must set 
up mine Ebenezer, and say, with a pious 
prophet of old, ''Hitherto hast the Lord 
helped us." 

But this stream of prosperity must not 
continue. I must be tried, I must learn my 
doctrine in the furnace of affliction, and fetch 
my sermons from God's powerful application 
and my own soul's experience, that I may be 
at a point and speak with authority, and that 
my hearers may see God's fatherly goodness 
and severity follow me and work in me, as 
well as hear an account of it from me. I fell 
sick, and lay for some time ; and for three or 
four years, one after another, I had much 
sickness in my family, and my doctor's bills 
of course came heavy. Besides one young 
child at wet-nurse, I had five more at school, 
and three, one after another, lately dead. I 
had my eldest daughter at a school at Green- 
wich, and her governess gained the applause 



202 THE BAXK OF FAITH, 

of many persons for her liberality to me, who 
averred that she educated my child for noth- 
ing, though I paid her sixteen guineas per 
annum for her all the time she was there, 
with one guinea earnest at her going, which 
was two guineas per annum more than she 
had for one-half of her scholars. A little boy, 
which I had at wet-nurse at Walworth, was 
much desired by a gentlewoman in that 
neighborhood, as soon as it was proper to 
wean him ; which desire I granted, and she 
dry-nursed him, and had him for three or 
four years. She also gained the esteem of 
many of my friends for keeping one of my 
children gratis, because of my large family ; 
but God knows that I paid her after the rate 
of twenty pounds per annum for every day 
she kept him. Thus some made the miracu- 
lous providence of God to favor me where it 
never appeared, while others denied the whole 
of it, and some burnt the relation of it where 
it really did. 

About this time I called upon my dear and 
unwearied friends, Mr. and Mrs. Baker, of 
Oxford street, who, from the time God first 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 203 

made me manifest in their consciences to the 
present moment, never failed me, forsook me, 
nor turned their backs on me. For while 
the chapel was building, when money was 
continually demanded, if there was one 
shilling in the house I was sure to have it. 
God never suffered their souls to get one 
morsel of the bread of life but under me ; and 
it is seldom that one quarter has rolled over 
my head, for these sixteen years, but what I 
have stood in need of some assistance from 
them ; thus God tied us together. 

At the same time God sorely tried them 
by various losses in business, by bankruptcies 
and bad debts continually; and, to add a 
little more fire to the furnace, a very near 
relation in the flesh fell into insanity, who 
has been confined in a private mad-house at 
their expense for many years, and is still on 
their hands, as I and my concerns were many 
years on their backs ; but still God supported 
them, comforted them, and kept their souls 
alive in their trouble. 

A large sum of money was now demanded 
of one of my creditors, and it was demanded 



204 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

in haste, being wanted. At this time my 
pocket had been well drained for furniture, 
and many more things were still wanting; 
however, the sum must be had, and it was 
one hundred and sixty pounds. My heart 
sunk at the sound. *' James," says I, *'what 
shall I do.?" ''Do," says he, **you shall pay 
it. The woman that has called it in does not 
want it, she receives her interest, and is in 
no danger of losing the principal ; the devil 
has stirred her up on purpose to plague you.*' 
But I replied, ''James, where shall I get one 
hundred pounds.?" "Why," said he, "you 
shall have it of James Baker." "Why," said 
I, " have you one hundred to spare .? " " Yes," 
said he, "one hundred more ; it lies by itself. 
It cost me eighty pounds in, and it is a good 
time to sell out."/ And he sold it out for one 
hundred and one pounds. The rest we made 
up, and I carried it to the person who 
demanded it, and she purchased two hundred 
pounds stock, which cost her two hundred 
and two pounds. Thus my dear friend 
cleared twenty-one pounds by serving me, 
and she lost as much by distressing me. 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 205 

God took away another of my poor chil- 
dren ; it died at my friend Chapman's, at 
Petersham, and was buried in the same ground 
where we since have erected our tomb. Upon 
the back of this disaster I fell sick, and lay 
some time. Soon after my little daughter 
was brought home from school with a violent 
fever, which continued on her many months ; 
but after my faith and patience had been a 
little tried, God raised her up again. Some 
time after a fever broke out in the school 
where my sons were, and three of them came 
home, one of whom was ill, and had a fit of 
sickness ; so that in a short time I had sixty 
or seventy pounds to pay to different gentle- 
men of the faculty, for attendance on me and 
them. Add to this another fifty pounds of 
borrowed money was called in ; not for want 
of it, but from private pique. This we made 
shift to get together and informed the person 
where to call for it ; but it lay a long time 
before it was called for. The grief was not 
from fear of losing it, but at my being able 
to procure it. But my God now appeared 
.again : a friend in the city gave me thirty 



206 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

pounds, another soon after sent me twenty- 
pounds, and two more gave me forty pounds ; 
and an elderly gentleman, who had for some 
time attended my ministry, and who had been 
a member of a church in the city for many 
years — but I have reason to [believe that it 
pleased God to revive the work on his soul 
under me, for he at times called on me and 
acknowledged as much, and often lamented 
that this world had for a long time obscured 
the good work on him, — soon after this he 
left this world, leaving me fifty pounds by 
will, and several more legacies, as I have 
been informed, to other indigent persons. 

I could now compare creditor and debtor 
together, and see a balance in my own favor ; 
so that I had no fears about me that any one 
friend would lose any thing by me, should it 
please God to remove me. I had also given 
forty pounds premium at the binding of one 
of my sons, and twenty pounds more to a 
mantua-maker with my elder daughter. I 
had for some years been Jack at everybody's 
call, being invited to preach collection ser- 
mons continually, and wherever I went this 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 207 

was sure to be the case ; sometimes I was to 
collect for the minister ; sometimes to rub off 
the debt of the buildings ; sometimes for the 
poor ; but always for something or for some- 
body, and I was generally desired to give it 
out at my own chapels, as their hopes were 
more in the pockets of my followers than in 
their own. A meeting which had not long 
been erected within a few miles of Uxbridge, 
in Middlesex, had a debt upon it which the 
people wished to clear off, and therefore 
proposed to have two sermons preached on a 
certain day annually, and a collection at each 
sermon, as the best method of extricating the 
chapel out of debt ; and of course I was once 
invited thither upon this business. I travelled 
at my own expense, and was entertained by a 
friend of my own at Uxbridge. I preached 
in the forenoon, and a gentleman from 
London was to preach in the afternoon; 
and if I was rightly informed, my collection 
was fourteen pounds ; what the gentleman 
got I know not, as I went off as soon as I 
had finished my discourse. The year follow- 
ing a minister of yearly fame was invited, who 



208 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

promised either to go himself or to send his 
curate, upon these conditions, namely, that 
they would promise him '' never to suffer 
that fellow Huntington to preach among them 
any more ; " which request the principal 
person of the meeting submissively listened 
to, and promised to admit me there no more. 
*^ Who can stand before envy ? " Upon these 
conditions the good man promised either to 
go or to send ; but at the same time observed 
that the travelling expenses must be borne, 
which was making a sure bargain, and in which 
the vicar displayed more wisdom than I did ; 
and this they agreed to also, knowing, as 
every man must, that the laborer is worthy 
of his hire. The time came round for another 
anniversary, and the curate went and preached 
and enforced the collection ; and when the 
preacher's entertainment, travelling expenses, 
etc., were defrayed, there remained two pence 
towards the debt of the chapel. Neither 
their promise nor their conscience would ever 
suffer them again to invite me, and as for 
the curate, they found him (in money 
matters ) to be an unprofitable servant, and 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 209 

therefore they took counsel, and laid the 
anniversary aside from that day forward ; 
which was a better work in the sight of God 
than that of bringing it into use. 

I was formerly often invited to preach at a 
meeting in Little St. Helens, where I preached 
at seven o'clock on a Lord's day morning. 
That lecture had been long established for 
the benefit of servants, who by reason of 
their domestic employ, could not attend the 
service of God at the usual times of public 
worship. The persons who invited me 
informed me that most of the supporters of 
that lecture were dead, and that whenever 
they had a collection sermon for it they sel- 
dom got more than twenty or thirty shillings. 
Hearing these things, I therefore promised to 
go, and was well attended. Not long after, 
I was invited again, and the place was so 
crowded that great numbers could not get in ; 
and, as I was informed, I collected ten pounds. 
I inquired at last, as they came frequently to 
ask me to preach, who the ministers were 
that preached the lectures, and they told me 
their names, but I knew none of them ; and 



210 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

farther, that they had a guinea a time for 
preaching, and that they were board-ministers 
or ministers belonging to the board. But I 
was not a board-minister, therefore the lecture 
had my labor gratis ; my office was to preach 
the guineas together, while that of the board- 
ministers was to preach them away. I 
thought of a story that I once heard, namely, 
of a man putting potatoes into the fire to 
roast, while a monkey sitting before it 
observed him. The monkey wanted the pota- 
toes, but fearing to burn his own paw, took 
the fore-foot of the cat to rake it out of the 
fire, whilst he ate it himself. Whoever was 
the monkey, I was the cat. At length I got 
sick of this. Nevertheless they came again, 
and entreated me to come and give them 
another sermon. I replied, '' There is to be 
a collection,, I suppose." They answered, '' Oh, 
yes, sir." I replied, '' I have no doubt of it ; 
but depend upon it I will be your cat's pa^V 
no longer," and I saw them no more. But 
soon after I heard the lecture was dropped, 
though I think it might have been kept up to 
this day, if the board-men had labored on as 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 211 

reasonable terms as I did. Some years I 
toiled up and down in this way, preaching col- 
lections for one minister or another. " Every- 
where, and in all things, I am instructed," says 
Paul. And so am I, for the vicar's bargain 
for his curate, and the board-men leaving off 
when money failed, brought me a determina- 
tion not to labor for nothing, — especially, 
having been informed that some called min- 
isters have been sitting at home while I have 
been preaching for them, who have ridiculed 
me after I had begged money ; and well they 
might, for who but a fool, when God has used 
a shepherd to collect a flock together, would 
lead that flock from post to pillar, on purpose 
to shear them, and give the wool to men 
whom I know not whence they be ? Bless 
my God, these board-men have taught me 
better things. I keep my flock at home, and 
shear them for my own profit ; and sure none 
can have so much right to the wool as those 
who labor day and night to feed the sheep, 
and I have vanity enough to think that they 
had rather the profits of the fleece fell to my 
share than to any other. Many journeys of 



212 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred 
miles, which have cost ten, twenty, or thirty- 
pounds a journey, have I travelled, and at the 
same time paid one pound five shillings per 
week for a supply at home in my absence ; 
but I confine my labors now, not to every 
place where I am invited, but where I am well 
known, and where there are poor hungry souls 
to feed ; to these my mouth is open, and to 
me their heart is. God has not sons of peace 
in every house. 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 213 



CHAPTER XI. 

My congregation began greatly to increase, 
and the heat of the place in times of service 
began to be almost unbearable ; it was of 
course thought necessary to enlarge the 
chapel. Now there was a spare bit of ground, 
which lay about the middle of the chapel 
against the east wall, the dimensions of which 
were thirty feet by twenty-five, and this 
spare morsel of ground had nothing on it but 
a shed ; this ground we endeavored to get, 
and intended to break through on that side 
the chapel, and so to throw the chapel into a 
triangular form, and to move the pulpit to 
the centre of the gallery on the west side, 
that it might face the new-intended erec- 
tion. The gentleman who held this ground 
by lease was applied to ; and he, in company 
with a builder, met with me and a few friends 



214 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

of mine, and intimated that he was willing to 
accommodate us. Of course we wished to 
know his terms, or what he expected for 
ground-rent, and he told us his price was 
one hundred guineas per annum. And so I 
found it, and they are determined to make 
the most of it. I have been informed, but I 
cannot avouch it, that all the ground on 
which that oblong pile of buildings stands 
within the com.pass of the four streets, of 
which my chapel is a part, pays no more to 
his Grace, the Duke of Portland, than four- 
teen pounds a year ; but, if it was all to be 
let in the same proportion as was demanded 
of me, it could not, I think, bring in less 
than ten thousand pounds per annum. But, 
as Canaan was to be a servant of servants, so 
I must have been a tenant of tenants. Find- 
ing nothing could be done with the earth- 
holdei^Sy I turned my eyes another way, and 
determined to build my stories bi the heaven 
(Amos ix. 6), where I should find more room 
and less rent ; and to this my friends agreed, 
namely, to raise the chapel one story higher, 
and to carry a flight of galleries all round it. 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 215 

The next thing was to find a man to execute 
this design, and one was soon found capable 
of the undertaking. But what I wanted to 
get at most, was whereabouts the expense 
would be. Besides, my shoulders having 
been kept raw for seven or eight years to- 
gether, and it was but lately that they had 
begun to heal, and remaining exceeding sore 
and tender, I was more afraid of another 
burden than I was of the heat of the day, lest 
it should terminate in an abscess, and I 
should be left to the accusations of the devil 
as an incurable. But, when the expense was 
named, it did not appear so alarming. He 
told me he thought it would amount to four 
hundred pounds ; this was a shoeing-horn, 
only to draw me on. But, as the person 
often sat under me as a hearer, I thought it 
was not likely that one who could face the 
rays of light, and stand the force of truth, 
would, or could, willmgly and wilfully deceive 
a servant of Christ ; '* But their inward 
thought and heart is deep" ( Ps. Ixiv. 6); 
'* sharper than a thorn hedge " ( Micah vii. 4 ). 



216 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

*' When wisdom wakes 
Suspicion sleeps at wisdom's gate, 
And up to simplicity resigns her charge ; 
Where Goodness thinks no ill where no ill seems." 

( Milton.) 

We must not measure everybody's corn by 
our own bushel ; those who can make the 
ephah small and shekel great will abide by 
their own standard, till they have filled up 
the measure of the fathers. 

However, we began and went on with the 
work. Hitherto, I had not only the care of 
the church, the care of a large family, and for 
a long time the principal care of the poor, till 
they made me poorer than themselves, but I 
had, also, the whole burden of chapel debt, 
and ten thousand cares how to get that bur- 
den off. Many, perceiving that it was with 
the greatest reluctance that I bowed my 
shoulders the second time, advised me to try 
the liberality of my friends, and to see if 
they would not put their shoulders to the 
work. To this I readily agreed ; but we 
determined to move only in the circle of 
our own acquaintance, or to call upon such, 
and only such, as attended my ministry, leav- 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 217 

ing other ministers to enjoy their own fleece; 
and by this rule we abode ; into any other 
little hill of Zion, into the way of the Gen- 
tiles, or into any of the cities of the Samari- 
tans, we entered not. To begging, therefore, 
we went ; and as the work of the chapel went 
on, so I saw more and more the necessity of 
pursuing this calling, for I shortly perceived 
that I was in the hands of a man who could 
have no feeling for my shoulders, nor any more 
mercy upon my pocket than an angry God 
will have upon a hypocrite in Zion ; and, to 
the honor of God and the credit of his people 
be it spoken, there was not one we visited 
that frowned upon us, or that showed an 
angry countenance, or that sent us empty 
away. They were as generous to me with 
their pocket as I am to them with a springing 
cruse in the pulpit, and we found begging to 
be a delightful employ. Besides, God kept 
us so happy in visiting the brethren that we 
sowed many spiritual things while we reaped 
carnal, so that they were as glad to see us 
as we were to rob them ; and after a few of 
these trading tours we came to a conclusion 



218 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

of the business ; and when we sat down under 
the hedge, and had put the money into our 
hats, and had counted it up, we found it to 
amount to the total sum of seven hundred 
pounds ; ^*so mightily grew the word of God 
and prevailed," not only over books of curious 
arts, but over the root of all evil. But all this 
wonderful and unexpected liberality was far 
from being sufficient to enable me to go up- 
right ; *^ I must still bow my shoulders to bear, 
and become a servant of tribute" (Gen.xlix. 
15). For, when the work was finished, and the 
bills brought in, the four hundred was swelled 
to that degree that it amounted to one thou 
sand two hundred and thirty pounds ! I 
believe it to be the best job, and the worst, 
that ever he took in hand. I cannot forget 
it, nor do I believe that ever he will. By 
these exhorbitant charges my debts were 
greatly increased ; but the reason he assigned 
for it was, that I had given the men so much 
victuals and drink that they wasted much of 
his time in consuming it; and, though he 
and his sons shared in my liberality, yet he 
made me redeem the time they lost, because 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 219 

my bounty was evil ; nevertheless, I would 
sooner bear the burden of a thousand such 
bills than the weight of such a builder's con- 
science. The remains of my old debt were 
upwards of three hundred pounds ; this new 
addition was five hundred and thirty; and 
these, together with small debts contracted 
while this work was doing ( besides my liber- 
ality to the men), made the weight of my 
future burden amount to about nine hundred 
pounds. With this load I began my second 
stage ; but before I had travelled far an 
additional weight was added. I had got to- 
gether one hundred pounds, and I had it in 
my pocket, intending in a day or two to pay 
it away. A friend of mine ( falsely so called ) 
knew this, and on the Lord's day morning 
came into the vestry to me, and informed me 
that a person whom I respected was going to 
be arrested for the small sum of sixty pounds, 
and pressed me hard to lend him the money 
I then had in my pocket. I told him I was 
altogether a stranger to the gentleman's cir- 
cumstances ; '^But," says he, ''I am not, and 
had I a thousand pounds I would lend it 



220 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

him." I replied, '* I have no objection to 
lend it to you." Upon this a friend in the 
vestry interfered, and took him to task for 
dragging the money from me. Nevertheless, 
he followed me up ; but I still replied, " I am 
willing to lend it to you." And at last he 
replied, *' Well, do then." So I gave it to 
him. In the evening he came into the vestry 
to me, with such a countenance as I shall 
never forget, and put a scrap of paper doubled 
up down upon the table, and departed ; 
which, when I examined, I found to be the 
gentleman's note, not his own. In a few 
days after, the gentleman failed in business 
and went to prison, and then the whole 
matter came to light. The person who was 
in danger of losing the sixty pounds was 
brother-in-law to him who squeezed the 
money from me ; so that the plan was well 
laid, and well executed. He that pressed me 
to lend the money was worth some thousands 
himselfj and so was he that got in his sixty 
pound debt, and I had one hundred pounds 
more added to the other nine, which set me 
down within twenty or thirty pounds of the 



THE BANK OF* FAITH, 221 

same sum with which I started at first. 
*' The men of this world are in their genera- 
tion wiser than the children of light ;" and 
yet one child of light is wiser than all the 
men of this generation. 

Finding this recruiting of the burden to 
sit very heavy, except at times when much 
favored with the presence of God, and it 
being such a matter for the old accuser to 
work upon in every time of trouble, I deter- 
mined to take an account of my books, I 
mean my own publications ; and when this 
was done, and the value of the stock cast up, 
I found I had eight hundred pounds worth 
of books, and the stationer and printer both 
clear. I resolved with myself to part with 
them, and with my copyright ; and here I 
had various struggles between feeling for 
self and feeling for others. I thought, on the 
one hand, that my books might be of some 
service to the large family I might leave 
behind, never expecting to leave them any- 
thing else ; and, on the other hand, being 
continually in debt was a sore burden, and 
the fears of dying so would not suffer me at 



222 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

times to sleep. I therefore resolved to part 
with them ; but then who to apply to was the 
next thing to be considered ; and I knew that 
whoever bought them had need of some 
money, as some of them would lie long on 
their hands, which I also considered ; and 
afterwards I fixed the price in my own mind, 
which was four hundred pounds, no more nor 
less ; and then I mentioned it to a gentleman 
of the city, who agreed to take them, and 
who paid me the money ; and this reduced 
my debt to somewhat less than six hundred 
pounds. Soon after this, the gentleman who 
failed in business above mentioned, who had 
my hundred pounds, sent me fifty pounds of 
it back again, which was all he could ever 
pay, and this was more than I ever expected. 
A kind friend of mine, at the other end of 
the town, about this time gave me twenty 
pounds, and another sent me ten pounds ; 
and now I was enabled to diminish my debt 
to the sum of five hundred pounds ; and there 
it remained for a long time, without either 
addition or diminution. In the meantime I 
continually entreated the Lord to let his 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 223 

goodness pass before me, and to enable his 
own servant to answer all just demands that 
might be made upon me; and, bless his 
majesty, in his own time he did. 

It came to pass soon after this that a 
gentleman froin Plymouth- dock came to 
town, and often attended my ministry during 
his stay ; and before he departed he wrote 
me a very kind letter, inviting me to preach 
at a meeting at the dock, to which himself 
and some of his family belonged, and gave 
me to understand that he thought they had 
the gospel tolerably clear preached to them. 
This I considered ; and, having formerly had 
various invitations to go to that part of the 
country, signed by many persons, I was 
inclined to go ; and I have no doubt now but 
it really was the mind and will of God that I 
should go. But being sometimes much put 
to it to get a supply in my absence, and the 
good man's letter intimating that he thought 
the preacher they had was sound in doctrine^ 
and useful in the work, I thought it best to 
agree with the old gentleman's request to let 
their preacher come up and officiate for me 



224: THE BAXK OF FAITH. 

in my absence ; and this was agreed on, and 
I took my journey. But, previous to my 
going down, I had been much grieved and 
exercised in my mind at seeing the rapid pro- 
gress of the sentiments and rebellion of Tom 
Paine ; and especially when I saw some sim- 
ple, God-fearing people much leavened with 
it. 

Never did I see so evil a spirit so rapidly 
spread before, and I hope I never shall again. 
Many of the poorer sort neglected all busi- 
ness, and all care for their families, till thev 
brought death into the pot. And many of 
the real children of God, when they saw that 
whole families and crowded societies were all 
moved as the trees of the wood are moved, 
and that many ministers in the pulpit, and 
swarms of hypocrites in the pews, were car- 
ried awav wdth it, it tarnished not a few in 
the simplicity of the gospel, and the image 
of Christ began to be sadly defaced in many ; 
and instead thereof sprung up self-conceit, 
worldly wisdom, high notions of equality, and 
a thirst for revenge against all that differed 
in sentiment from them. Many professing 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 225 

people, as well as others, began to meet 
together in companies to read the wisdom of 
Tom Paine, till the strongest union was 
cemented among them by disaffection to 
others ; wherever it came it preyed upon the 
very vitals of godliness ; filial fear, tenderness 
of heart, conscience before God, timidity in 
prayer, self-diffidence, humility, meekness, 
watchfulness, quietude, peace, diligence in 
business, zeal for God, and fervor in devotion, 
seemed to have forsaken many, and not a few 
that my soul loved were sadly fermented with 
this leaven of malice and wickedness. Satan 
cares not what we strive and contend about, 
so that we do not strive at the straight gate, 
nor contend for the faith of the saints. 
When I saw what a hand the devil made, and 
the advantage he gained by trading with Tom 
Paine, my soul was grieved and my zeal 
inflamed against this monopoly of Satan, and 
God filled me with power and might by his 
Spirit to oppose it, and the farther I went on 
in it the more the Word of God opened to me, 
until he was pleased to show me whereabouts 
in his Word this trying hour stood. 



226 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

Much displeasure did I incur at this work ; 
some (like the Galatians ) who would formerly 
have parted with their own eyes for me, now 
viewed me as their greatest enemy for enforc- 
ing the clearest truth; not a few hissed like 
a viper in the gallery, while I was insisting 
on obedience to him that bruised the ser- 
pent's head. About this time I pubhshed my 
sermon on ''The Books and the Parchments,'* 
and this exasperated many still more, till one 
would have thought that the former cry of 
''Hosanna" was now changed into that of 
''Crucify him, crucify him/' But God's ser-^ 
vants have a better foundation than either the 
testimony or the applause of men. I was 
upon the rock long before either their applause 
or reproach fell upon me. 

In the midst of this bustle, and under this 
cloud of pleasure, I set off for Plymouth-dock, 
and the preacher at the dock came up as a 
supply in my absence. The man was an 
entire stranger to me, and so he remains 
still, for to this day I do not know him. 
When I came to the place I heard that there 
had been a division and a sub-division among 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 227 

the people, which I never knew till then; 
and during my stay there I had various 
reports from those of my own chapel, some 
greatly disgusted at his doctrine, and others 
as much admiring it; but before I left the 
place I heard very disagreeable things from a 
real friend of his own, who was compelled in 
point of conscience to divulge what he did. 
This sent me home with a heavy heart ; and 
at my return I saw a wonderful blaze, but I 
was sure the coals were never taken from 
the altar of burnt-offering; they were zeal- 
ously affected, but not well. Wild rant and 
empty oratory, moving the corrupt affections 
of depraved nature, produced all these sparks, 
and many poor souls walked in the light of 
this fire, and in the sparks that they had kin- 
dled; but the light of this flame burns no 
longer than the audible accents of the orator 
operate; it all dies before the hearer can 
reach the threshold of his door ; and at a 
dying hour, and at the midnight cry, the 
very remembrance of it shall vanish. 

When I insisted upon fire from the altar 
of burnt-offering, and that it appertained to 



228 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

the tribe of Levi, or to them that were joined 
to the Lord, to burn incense, this brought 
the whole company of Korah upon me ; and- 
if I enforced obedience to rulers for con- 
science' sake, this stirred up all the disciples 
of Tom Paine. And now I had need to be 
made a new sharp threshing instrument, hav- 
ing teeth, to thresh these mountains, and 
make these hills as chaff, in order to fan 
them, that the wind might carry them away, 
and that the whirlwind might scatter them, 
that those that were left might rejoice in the 
Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel 
(Isa. x]i. 15, 16). And by the good hand of 
our God upon us, we saw every word of this 
prophecy exactly fulfilled ; for as the thresher 
went on the vermin hissed in the mow, the 
chaff flew like smoke out of the chimney, 
while the pure grain fell not to the ground, 
bui under a spirit of meekness consolidated 
together into one heap, and the rest were 
scattered in the imagination of their hearts, 
and soon after not less than fifteen were in 
their graves. While it pleased God to con- 
tinue me at this work of threshing, the Uply 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 229 

Ghost spoke these words to my heart : *' Shall 
not God avenge his own elect? A word 
spoken in due season, how good is it?" I 
thanked my God, and took courage still to 
labor at threshing the mountains, expecting 
more wheat as soon as the chaff was gone; 
for I had not a single doubt but I should still 
prophesy upon the thick boughs. In this I 
was not disappointed of my hopes, nor were 
my expectations cut off; for, when the floor 
was purged, those that were scattered sent 
for this new standard-bearer up, with many 
promises of fidelity. But those who are false 
to the true riches are never true to the un- 
righteous mammon, for they abode less time 
under him than they did under me. And 
sure I am that this work was of God ; for 
some few among us, who were much looked 
up to as something more than men, were now 
looked away from as being less than nothing; 
others, who had some exalting notions of 
their own self-sufficiency to tread out the 
corn, set up a prayer-meeting as an introduc- 
tion to the pulpit; but, not succeeding in 
this, with shame they took the lowest room ; 



230 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

while many i>oor honest souls, who could 
read only the Bible before, now learned to 
read men; and not a few, who long had 
appeared all meekness and placidity, lost 
that garb, and the envy in their bosom never 
suffered them to put it on again. In the 
storm 1 had a five hundred pound debt upon 
the chapel, a^^ • ^^v^ny, filled with envy, proph- 
esied that I ^ can*}' that burden to my 
grave ; but all men know not the thoughts of 
the Lord. I one day, sitting in my chair in 
the chapel, asked the Almighty what I had 
done to these men, wherein I had misled 
them, or whom I had wronged. And the 
Spirit of God answered, •* When they shall 
make an end to deal treacherously, thou 
shalt deal treacherously wath them '* ( Isa. 
xxxiii. I ). And so it fell out, for not a few 
acted the parts of Sanballat and Tobiah ; 
when they grew weary and ashamed of hin- 
dering the work, turned about and offered to 
assist in building ; but there is little trust to 
be put in men whose hearts are not fixed 
trusting in God, 



THE BAXK OF FAITH. 231 



CHAPTER XII. 

While numbers were rejoicing at the thin- 
ness of the congregation, and at the apparent 
diminution of my income, God moved the 
hearts of my friends to contribute among 
themselves to clear off the debt of the chapel ; 
they gave me near four hundred pounds, and 
in a little time after a person left me two 
hundred more by \^'ill. This at once cleared 
the whole debt, and left me something in 
hand. It is a bad wind that blows good to 
none. By this fanning wind God not only 
purged the floor, but my debt also ; for many 
of the Lord's people, who stood for some time 
amazed at the strange flame, and as it were 
halting between two opinions, were brought 
to a conclusion, by seeing how soon the 
candle of the wicked went out ; it was 
quenched at once, and we heard no more of 



232 THE BAXK OF FAITH, 

it, and then the affections of the people came 
back to me ; which put me in Paul's path of 
experience, when he said, " But I rejoice in the 
Lord greatly, that now at last your care for 
me hath flourished again" (Phil. iv. lo), for 
they even spoke to the gentleman to whom 
I sold my books, and he sold them back to 
them, and contributed handsomely himself ; 
they not only subscribed to buy the books, 
but raised a fund to reprint some that were 
out of print. God hath given us all things in 
Christ. ** For your shame you shall have 
double, and for confusion they shall rejoice 
in their portion ; therefore in their land they 
shall possess double ; everlasting joy shall 
be unto them" (Isa. Ixi. 7). I had long 
entreated the Lord to remove this load from 
my shoulders ; and '* by terrible things in 
righteousness did the God of my salvation 
answer me ; who is the confidence of all the 
ends of the earth, and of them that are afar 
off upon the sea ( Ps. Ixv. 5 ). 

But the good hand of my God stopped not 
here. I had told the w^hole company that 
rose up against me, and that publicly in the 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 233 

chapel, that so far from their being able to 
pull me down, they must not wonder to see 
me in my coach when old age came on me ; 
nor was the hand of God withdrawn till this 
came to pass. Upon the house I then lived 
in, and on the garden, I had not expended less 
than three hundred pounds. My lease was 
only for the term of seven years ; but as I 
gave the landlord all the rent he asked, and 
paid it punctually every quarter, I had no- 
doubt he was contented with his tenant ; 
yea, so much so that he wished me to get a 
tenant that I liked to occupy the other house 
which joined to mine; and moreover told a 
friend who paid him my rent, that I might 
prolong my lease whenever I would, so that 
I thought myself secure enough. But this 
is not the first time that I have trusted in 
man, in whom there is no help. It fell out 
that one night,- while I was at Bolney in 
Sussex, I had a dream : I dreamed that I was 
standing in my yard at the back side of my 
house, and all on a sudden I saw my house 
fall to the ground ; it fell with the front 
downwards, and in my dream I saw it when 



234 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

it was down, and I stood neither alarmed nor 
concerned about it ; and soon I awoke, and 
behold it was a dream. And as I seemed so 
composed about the fall of it, I thought that 
neither me nor my family would be hurt by 
this fall, whatever it meant. The next morn- 
ing, at breakfast, I told the gentleman's fam- 
ily, at whose house I was, the dream ; but we 
could make nothing of it. When I returned 
home, my wife informed me that my landlord 
had been to inquire after me ; and in a day 
or two he came again to inform me that he 
was going to sell his houses. I desired him 
to bring a builder, and I would get another, 
and they two should value the house. To 
this he agreed. But instead of two builders 
meeting, he brought up an auctioneer, who 
set the price of my house at nine hundred 
pounds ; whereas, not many years before, 
both of them were sold for four hundred 
pounds, and at that time they were let for 
twenty pounds a year each. The auction 
came on, and they were sold ; and if I re- 
member right, my house fetched six hundred 
guineas, and the other four hundred and fifty 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 235 

pounds ; my improvements made that differ- 
ence. My lease being nearly out, I had an- 
other habitation to seek, and went two days, 
but in vain, as I wanted some rural and 
retired spot. A few friends, seeing the lease 
of my present residence advertised to be sold, 
went ( unknovv^n to me ) to see it, and much 
approved of it. 

After my friends had been once or twice 
to see the house they informed me of it, and 
advised me to go and see it ; which I did ; 
but the concern appeared so weighty that I 
set myself against it to the utmost, remem- 
bering my former affliction and my misery, 
the wormwood and the gall ; nor was there 
one in all my family who approved of it but 
wife, the distance appeared so far from town. 
However, my friends mightily pressed me to 
it ; and as the time drew nigh when the lease 
was to be sold, they determined to attend the 
sale. I prayed day and night that they 
might not succeed in buying it, and charged 
them to bid no higher than thirty pounds ; 
but they resolved among themselves to bid 
to seventy pounds. It was put up at five 



236 Tim BANK OF FAITlL 

pounds, and there was not one bidder till one 
of my friends bid the five pounds, and it was 
knocked down to him. At this time I had 
another dream. I dreamed I was in a large 
room, and the room was full of serpents, and 
the bodies of the serpents were divided at the 
middle and so each of them had two necks 
and two heads ; and many of them crawled 
furiously up to me open-mouthed, but not one 
of them bit me ; nor was I at all terrified at 
them. I awaked, and behold it was a dream. 
But, when I came to see the person that I 
had to deal with, the dream come fresh into 
my mind. I saw the serpent, and I had no 
doubt but that there were more heads than 
one; yea, many in union with him. There 
are serpents, and a generation of vipers ; and 
Christ says they are of their father. And 
never, in this world, did I see so great a like- 
ness of him. 

The things on the premises were to be 
taken by an appraisement ; the good man was 
to chose one, and I the other. I had, in my 
own mind, fixed upon one in much practice j 
and, had I made choice of him, I should have 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 237 

added a third head to the crooked fraternity. 
But this was not to be. My God will have a 
hand in all my affairs ; and I was directed by 
him to inquire after another of great note, 
one who stood very high and honorable in 
his profession. And this gentleman was well 
acquainted with the reptile that I had to deal 
with. The gentleman that he employed went 
through the work first, and the person who 
was for me soon went after him ; and, when 
they met upon the business, they could not 
agree together so as to settle the affairs. 
During which time my kind friend with two 
heads very politely offered me possession of 
the premises, and urged the necessity of it, 
as the second crop of grass was fit to cut, 
which I well knew, and took it very kindly of 
him from one of his heads ; but I could not 
take my eye from the other, being not ignor- 
ant of Satan's devices ; and, suspecting that 
I must be brought to submit to any terms 
after I had taken possession, I therefore 
declined it till the matters could be properly 
adjusted. The principal matter in debate 
was respecting a small quantity of manure, 



238 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

worth about six pounds, and which, according' 
to the tenor of the lease, should have been 
laid on the land before that period. My 
appraiser would not allow me to pay for that, 
and at last he carried his point ; and, strik- 
ing the dung and other matters off from the 
inventory, they both agreed, and for the stock 
and fixtures I paid three hundred and seventy 
pounds ; and then took possession with all 
the formalities and punctilios of human laws, 
my attorney and friends being present with 
me. 

And now I must beg my dearly beloved 
friend's pardon for digressing a little from 
my intended subject, in order to pursue this 
wriggling family a little farther, and to con- 
vince you that what God showed me in a 
vision he afterwards showed me in reality ; 
or, to speak more plainly, I really saw with 
my bodily eyes those very creatures creeping 
upon the earth, which at first appeared only 
in imagination ; for I had not been long in 
possession of my new habitation before I 
received a squib, or rather a cracker, for there 
were many folds and doubles in its meaning. 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 239 

It came from an honest lawyer. The contents 
were, ** That he was absent from town at the 
settKng of our affairs ; that the notion of not 
paying for the dung was a false one ; and 
that, if he had been at the meeting, his client 
should have been paid. And farther, he 
wished to know what I thought of the mat- 
ter." This opened the monstrous mystery 
of two heads a little more plainly. 

A secret something within told me to 
take no notice of this. I showed the letter 
to Father Green; and Mrs. Green said she 
knew the honest lawyer well, and spoke very 
highly of his wisdom in his profession, telling 
me that her former husband, who died a 
member with us, had lent a person twenty 
pounds ; and as the borrower proved a 
villain, her husband employed this honest 
attorney to recover the money ; but he never 
recovered one farthing of it, only brought in 
a bill of twenty pounds more for his trying, 
or not trying, to get it. And surely, if the 
unjust steward in the gospel, for reducing 
the debts of his lord's debtors to nearly half 
the amount, be commended because he had 



240 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

done wisely, this good man has a right to the 
same honor; for he just doubled the debt, 
and got the same sum of his client for him- 
self that the debtor had cheated him of before. 
But to return. The silent contempt that I 
poured upon this three-and-fourpenny squib 
brought another scrap of the same price, 
"desiring to know where my attorney lived, 
that, as I chose to remain silent and come to 
no terms, he might debate the matter with 
him,'' etc. I took the wise man's counsel ; 
I still held my peace, that I might be es- 
teemed a man of understanding ; for " he 
that openeth wide his lips (in such cases) 
shall have destruction" ( Prov. xiii. 3). Soon 
after I was served with a something, I know 
not what, as it was a text that I had never 
handled ; but I remember one of the heads 
of the subject was ''forty pounds for dung." 
After some little trouble of collecting wit- 
nesses and some few materials together, it 
came into Westminster Hall. My antagonist 
seemed quite in his element. Courts of law 
were his sunny banks, where he folded him- 
self in many a coil, and raised his crest to 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 24.1 

such a height, that he was heard by my 
friends to say that he knew law enough for 
twenty men. I would to God that he had 
been taught a few lessons from the old law- 
giver of the Jews. Moses would have made 
him talk less and do more. However, these 
laws are still to be learned, and must be 
learned, sooner or later, by all the offspring of 
Adam, at the last and grand assize. 

When the matter came into court his coun- 
sellor began to open his mouth, and to go on 
with the business, till the venerable judge 
stopped him, telling him he need not proceed, 
for he had no foundation to go upon, and 
showed his reason for it, and added, *'You 
must nonsuit him." Here it ended for the 
present ; but soon after I heard that he had 
obtained a something, but I know not what, 
from the twelve judges. It was to try this 
matter over again, and to collect more forces 
for the trial. All this time I kept my eye 
upon my dream. I saw the creatures, and 
their mouths open ; and I know that the 
scriptures say of the king of Babylon, ''Shall 
they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, 



242 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt 
be for booties unto them ? " ( Hab. ii. 7). And 
this is what I wanted to know, whether God 
would suffer these to bite as well as vex, and 
at last to make a booty of me. In my dream 
they did not. 

After a time this.trial came on again, and 
then a young man stepped forth, and swore, 
and said that the two appraisers could not, 
and did not, settle the matter, but it was left 
to be settled between me and my antagonist. 
This was another of the crooked ones. At 
which time the counsel for me gave the 
young man the inventory, and asked him 
who wrote that on the back of it 1 He re- 
plied, after some time, that he himself did. 
And the words were, '* This is to certify that 
no one thing crossed out in this inventory is 
to be paid for.'* Signed by himself. The 
venerable lord cried out, '^Villany indeed!'' 
Here it ended, with all cost and suit on his 
shoulders who wore the two heads. And I 
was inform. ed that it cost the crooked one 
two hundred and seventy pounds. And all 
this time I was not once bitten. God speaks 



TEE BANK OF FAITH. 243 

once, yea twice, in dreams, in visions, by his 
judgments, by his providence, by his Son, by 
his Spirit, and sometimes by his servants ; 
but, let him speak however he may, I set to 
my seal that God is true. 

I must now prepare my stuff for removing. 
For some few years before I was married all 
my personal effects used to be carried in my 
hand, or on my shoulders, in one or two large 
handkerchiefs ; but, after marriage, for some 
few years, I used to carry all the goods that 
we had gotten on my shoulders in a large 
sack. But, when we moved from Thames 
Ditton to London, we loaded two large carts 
with furniture and other necessaries, besides 
a post-chaise well filled with children. But 
at this time God had given me such treasure 
in my sack that it was increased to a multi- 
tude ; we were almost a fortnight in getting 
away the stuff. ■ The many things on the 
premises which I had to purchase, and the 
expenses that would attend my moving, to- 
gether with rent for both houses for some 
time to come, had previously exercised my 
mind not a little. And I have always kept 



244 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

Claremarket, but never did any business at 
the Stocks-market in my life, so that I could 
not look there for any supply. But I looked 
to the market in Honey lane; for his word 
has often been sweeter to me than honey or 
the honeycomb, for it contains the promise of 
the life that now is, and of that which is to 
come ; and here I never sought, I never 
looked, I never prayed in vain. God raised 
me up a most invaluable friend, who richly 
supplied me, and has long ministered to my 
necessities. But the trouble of moving drove 
me quite out of my element; it interrupted 
my peace, scattered my thoughts, and pre- 
vented all meditation. The door of hope 
seemed to be off the hooks, and the 
best members of the new man out of joint. 
I appeared quite unfurnished for the pulpit, 
and my mind too unsettled for any one 
branch of my delightful labor. ''No man 
that warreth entangleth himself \vith the 
affairs of this life," says Paul ; and sad en- 
tanglements are all worldly concerns to a 
spiritual soldier. But if this world, and the 
domestic concerns of it, are a burden and 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 245 

not a pleasure, a vanity and not a substance, 
a vexation and not a delight, a rival and not 
a real lover, we must of course be crucified 
to it, and alive to Him that was crucified in 
it. 

Being in some measure settled in my new 
habitation, I watched, and sought, and felt, 
after that Friend that loveth at all times ; 
and, blessed be his revered name, I found 
him. If I had failed in this I had been un- 
done; for he is our dwelling-place in all gen- 
erations ; and sensible sinners have no sure 
dwelling nor quiet resting-place but this. 
But now many cares came on me. I was five 
miles from my chapel, and a cold winter was 
coming on ; and how to get my family so far 
to the house of God was my chief concern. 
A person of Streatham, in Surrey, had made 
me a present of a little sorrel horse, which is 
a most excellent creature, and would carry me 
very well ; but how to get a large family 
there was the difficulty. A man and his 
wife with whom I have been for some years 
acquainted at Streatham, and who had man- 
aged a farm for a gentleman there had been 



246 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

for some time before this out of employ, 
through the gentleman's letting his farm. 
I had spoken to two friends in London about 
joining with me in taking a farm, and putting 
him into it to manage it for us, for the sake 
of a dairy, etc., to supply our three families ; 
but we could not hear of any such thing 
near town that would do for that purpose. 
The man and his wife therefore took a coal 
shed, and dealt in green grocery, etc., etc. 
But I found, by inquiry, that their business 
was not likely to answer, and therefore I 
sent for the man to come to me ; and he and 
his wife agreed to come, she to attend to my 
baking and dairy, and he to the business of 
the land. And here God granted me my 
request in a way that I did not expect ; for 
being long acquainted with them, and they 
being fond of my ministry, I did not like to 
see them scattered from it. I had got one 
old cart-horse that I had bought with the 
rest of the stock on the farm, and I wanted 
two more, but money run short ; and I deter- 
mined also to have a large tilted cart to take 
my family to chapel, and the man should 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 247 

drive it on the Sunday, and on lecture nights, 
and I would ride my little horse. This was 
the most eligible plan that I could adopt ; 
and on this I determined, as soon as God 
should send money to procure them. I came 
to this conclusion on a Friday, and on the 
next day, toward evening, came two or three 
friends from town to see me. I wondered 
not a little at their coming, as they knew 
that on a Saturday I never like to see any- 
body; and therefore I conceived that they 
must be come with some heavy tidings ; some 
friend was dead, or something bad had hap- 
pened. But they came to inform me that 
some friends had agreed among themselves 
and bought me a coach and a pair of horses, 
which they intended to make me a present of. 
I informed them that the assessed taxes ran 
so high that I should not be able to keep it. 
But they stopped my mouth by informing me 
that the money for paying the taxes for the 
coach and horses was subscribed also; so 
that nothing lay upon me but the keep of the 
horses. Thus, instead of being at the ex- 
pense of a tilted cart, God sent me a coach 



248 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

without cost, and two horses without my 
purchasing them ; and which, with my other 
old horse, would do the work of the farm, as 
well as the work of the coach ; and my bailiff 
informed me that he could drive it, having 
formerly drove one. Thus was I set up. 
But at this time the pocket was bare, and 
many things were wanting, both in the house 
and on the farm, and a place to fit up for my 
bailiff and dairy woman to live in. And it 
was but a few days afterward before a gentle- 
man out of the country called upon me; and, 
being up in my study with me, he said, '' My 
friend, I often told you that you would keep 
your coach before you died, and I always 
promised that whenever you had a coach I 
would give you a pair of horses, and I will 
not be worse than my word. I have inquired 
of father Green, and he tells me that the 
horses cost forty- five pounds; and there is 
the money." In a day or two after the coach, 
horses, and harness, came. And, having now 
a little money, I wrote to a friend in the 
country to send me twelve. ewes, and a male 
with them ; and they sent me twelve excel- 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 249 

lent ones, and the male with them, but would 
not be paid for them ; they were a present to 
the farm. " Whoso is wise, and will observe 
these things, even they shall understand the 
loving kindness of the Lord " ( Ps. cvii. 43 ). 

When my coach came home, and my family 
had been once or twice to chapel in it, and 
the report of it was gone abroad, it was truly 
laughable to see the sorrow, the hard labor, 
and sore travail that fell upon some poor 
souls on the account of it. Their envy 
almost slew the silly ones. One person 
came into my yard and asked the coachman 
about this matter, and what all these things 
meant; but he being a stranger who came 
with the coach, and only drove us two or 
three times, could not inform him. Others, 
and some very well dressed gentlemen, whom 
I knew nothing of, and whom I never saw 
before, came and walked at different times 
to and fro at the front of the house by the 
hour together, looking up, and then down, to 
consider the matter, and to find out what it 
all proceeded from, which is a mystery they 
can never get at ; and the mystery of God's 



250 TEE BANK OF FAITH, 

providential dealings is what I never shall be 
able to describe. I can only look on and 
wonder at God, while others wonder at me, 
and say with the Psalmist, '' I am a wonder 
unto many, but thou art my strong refuge " 
(Ps. Ixxi. 7). 

We have had some of these envious ones 
stand in convocation in the by-road which 
leads to Hendon, and hold a council, and 
debate upon the matter for hours together; 
what the rent is, what the taxes, the number 
of the family, the keep of the horses and ser- 
vants, the taxes of the house, coach, etc., and 
what must unavoidably be the amount of the 
whole, yearly, while Mr. Williams stood on 
the other side of the wall and heard the 
debates and the conclusion. And here they 
took more pains than ever I did, for I never 
once cast up either the income or outgoings 
till the income tax w^as made; only I ob- 
served this, that the income seldom trod 
upon the heels of the outgoings; there was 
generally a little space between them, and in 
that gap I erected my watch-tower, and in 
which ward I have sometimes been whole 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 251 

nights, when other folks have been in bed 
and asleep. At the chapel door also we were 
not a little troubled with this sort of well- 
wishers, sometimes twenty or more, about 
the coal-heaver's state coach, to examine 
matters, and to look into things. And this 
continued, more or less, for near two years. 
Indeed, it is but lately that this wonder of 
wonders has begun to cease. And yet my 
friends, who executed all this business for 
me, took care to give them all the informa- 
tion that malice itself could expect ; for the 
initials of my name, W. H., together with 
the initials of my state, S. S., were put upon 
every panel of the coach, upon the pads of 
the harness, and upon the very blindfolds of 
the bridles. And all this was done to satisfy 
those who were the principal mourners on 
this occasion that the thing was real, and not 
counterfeit ; that it was not a hackney car- 
riage, nor a glass coach; not borrowed, nor 
hired, nor a job; but the despised doctor's 
own carriage, which the King of kings had 
sent him without asking for, and, at that 
time, without any expectation of any such 
thing. 



252 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

And here I have often thought of the 
words of the sweet psalmist of Israel. When 
he, and the four hundred troops that were 
with him, all of whom were in desperate cir- 
cumstances, such as were in distress, those 
that were discontented, and such as were in 
debt, these only joining him (i Sam. xxii. 2), 
and while he and this handful of men wan- 
dered in the wilderness, and in the woods, in 
caves, in rocks, and in strong holds, like 
Robin Hood and Little John in the forest of 
Sherwood, Nabal's shepherds, as appears by 
his famous speech to Abigail, all who knew 
them, and all laboring and husbandmen about 
these wild places were conversant with them, 
and not a few of the heathen, as the Philis- 
tines also ; but, when the report was spread 
that this wood-ranger was crowned king in 
Hebron, and his desperate followers were the 
life-guards of his royal person in that city of 
Israel, then they gathered themselves to- 
gether, and went in troops to see the sight ; 
and when they saw the crown royal and the 
purple robe upon the son of Jesse, they 
assembled in different assemblies, and com- 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 253 

passed him about ; yea, the objects gathered 
themselves together; they walked round 
about the walls of his palace, and fretted at 
his exaltation. And he seems to take notice 
of it, and says, '^ They make a noise like a 
dog, and go round about the city/' And, as 
it seemed to amuse them, David desired that 
they might be permitted to continue at it, 
and therefore adds, "And at evening let 
them return ; and let them make a noise like 
a dog, and go round about the city. Let 
them wander up and down for meat, and 
grudge if they be not satisfied'' ( Ps. lix. 6. 

14, 15)- 

And here I must mention one or two par- 
ticulars which have often been a wonder to 
me. And one is, when I came first to reside 
in London I brought my poor old gray horse 
to town with me, and being not able to keep 
him, a friend of mine and a dear son in the 
faith, who kept a livery stable, took him till 
he could be sold ; and, during this time, a 
gentleman asked me to take a ride with him 
a little way in the country, and we went up 
Edgware road, a road I bad never been 



254 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

before, and turned up toward Hampstead ; 
and I particularly observed one house in the 
way, with the garden, walls, and the summer- 
house, and a few fir trees which were about 
it. And, being in the summer, I observed 
to the gentleman that was with me what a 
retired, rural spot it was ; and it seemed to 
take my fancy, and to catch my eye, more 
than any other that we observed ; and that 
very house is now my residence. 

The next particular is this : About four 
years ago I was invited to preach at Wool- 
wich, and I engaged a few friends to go with 
me, and begged of father Green to get some 
stable keeper to furnish us a rich coach and 
horses for the day. He replied that he knew 
a man of the name of Nibbs who kept coach- 
es, and who generally drove himself, and who 
was a very civil man, and had a large family; 
and I remember we loaded the coach very 
heavily ; and, when we came to Woolwich, I 
ordered the good man who owned the horses 
to feed them to the full, and it should be at 
my expense. Toward the evening it thun- 
dered, lightened and rained at a most violent 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 265 

rate, and the road was very wet ana slippery, 
and being above the common number for a 
coach to take, I had a good deal of feeling 
for the poor cattle ; and, before I got in, I 
went and looked at the horses, to see their 
size and weight, and what state they were in, 
whether poor or in working order; whether 
decrepit or sound ; and whether they looked 
full or empty ; and I much admired the team. 
They were both grays, and the shape or 
mould of one of them much took my eye ; he 
was a dapple gray, very spotted, and of the 
tabby cast. And, the team much pleasing 
me, I desired the master of them to drive 
slow, and not to hurt his cattle, and, as we 
were a heavy load, we would reward him, 
which we did to his satisfaction. And that 
horse which so forcibly struck my eye is one 
of the pair which my friends bought for me, 
and is now in my team. Some gentleman 
in town having often seen him in my cart, 
and afterwards in the coach, took a fancy to 
him, and made many inquiries whose he was» 
and at last inquired of the hackneyman where 
he came from, who informed him, and who, 



256 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

by the gentleman's desire, came to purchase 
him ; and others also have bid for him, but 
he is still with me. God's gifts are not to be 
parted with but in case of necessity. Thus 
the man that I wished to put on a farm now 
drives me, the house I then saw, which so 
much took my fancy, is my residence, and 
the horse I took such notice of is now in my 
team. 

I often looked back, with many tears, at 
the undeserved and unexpected mercy of my 
God, and with the joys of a good hope, 
through grace, that I should one day see 
him whom my soul loves. And with much 
delight did my soul exult in my bountiful 
Benefactor ; and not without a lasting sense 
of his undeserved love to me, from which 
alone all real gratitude of heart flows ; for all 
which I am deeply indebted to his free and 
super-abounding grace. This frame of mind, 
and my bodily infirmities, kept my temporal 
prosperity in its proper place, as a nice hand- 
maid, under God, to assist my faith, but not 
to become a snare ; and it likewise kept my 
mind heavenly, and rather assisted me for 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 257 

the pulpit than otherwise ; for the more we 
see his goodness the more boldly we proclaim 
it. '' Out of the abundance of the heart the 
mouth speaketh." 



258 THE BANK OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

It now fell out that I was earnestly invited 
to go a journey into the North to preach ; 
but, having the gout in my pocket, I was 
obliged to postpone it till I was loosed from 
this infirmity ; and when the cure came the 
cold winterly weather was come on. How- 
ever, I sent to my friends of whom I had my 
coach, and begged the loan of a chariot. 
These friends supply me gratis with a chariot 
or chaise, or any light carriage that I may 
want, whenever I ask. They sent the 
chariot, and off I went, with about eleven 
pounds in my pocket, which small sum I 
knew would require more frugality than I am 
master of to go so long a journey. However, 
I set off in style with this small capital ; and, 
having been long expected by some of the 
Lord's tried ones, and they having now 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 259 

despaired of my coming, except one or two, 
upon whose minds it was impressed that I 
should come, just before my letter of infor- 
mation reached them ; which delay sharpened 
their appetites. One poor soul had her work 
sweetly revived ; another young woman, who 
had been long in chains, came forth to the 
light, and showed herself ; and, had my hand 
been as open as their hearts, they had sent 
me home with thirty guineas in my pocket ; 
but I returned some of it back again, know- 
ing it is more blessed to give than to receive. 
God threw my heart quite open when He first 
revealed His dear Son in me, and the trans- 
forming views that I have at times been 
favored with since has kept it open to this 
day, so that I keep clear-market all the year 
round ; as it comes in, so it goes"^ut, so that 
neither my heart nor my pocket are standing 
pools, but springing wells ; and not a few 
mumping professors and lazy hypocrites have 
made an easy prey of me, the devil artfully 
instructing his fraternity to fish after the 
tender feelings of those whose hearts have 
been made soft by heavenly discipline. But 



260 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

of late I have found myself better armed 
against these drone-bees than formerly. 
When my bounty goes into the family of God 
I fret not ; but it hurts my consequence to 
be duped by the devil in a serpent, or a wolf 
in a sheep's skin. 

Soon after my return from this journey I 
discharged some small debts ; for God seldom 
sends me one guinea till that guinea is owing, 
or wanted immediately some other way. He 
has strictly preserved this uniform and un- 
alterable method with me, now near upon 
twenty-eight years, without ever deviating in 
the least from it ; for, when he cleared the 
debts of the chapel, there were several small 
debts for other things left unpaid ; so that 
the little ove^)lus was soon demanded. And 
the general method of his proceedings with 
me are, that when his hand has been for 
some time closed till my debts are greatly 
increased, then the devil is let loose upon me, 
who is suffered to bring them all to my view, 
one after another, even from a fifty pound 
debt down to a shilling. This sets me to 
looking up and praying to God ; soon after 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 261 

which my creditors and their demands are 
banished from my mind, and at which time 
faith springs up, fully persuading me that the 
raven, or the hand-basket, is on the road, 
which is as sure to come as faith is to pro- 
claim its coming. 

But I must now return to the time of my 
returning from the north country. I before 
observed that some small debts were then 
discharged. But soon after this, the hand of 
God was fast closed again, of which I am as 
sensible as I am of the heat of the sun. This 
continued for some time ; and for all that 
time I watched and observed it narrowly. 
And at this time there was a debt due of 
twenty pounds ; though it was never asked 
for nor demanded, yet I knew it was due. It 
was for tithes ; for, though I am a gentle- 
man of the cloth myself, yet, being not a reg- • 
ular, but an irregular, I am constrained to 
pay tithes, offerings, dues, and fees, though 
I live upon nothing but offerings myself, and 
these are neither few nor small. 

I looked different ways, and chalked out 
different roads, for the Almighty to walk in ; 



262 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

but his paths were in the deep waters, and 
his footsteps were not known. No raven 
came, neither in the morning nor in the even- 
ing. There was a gentlewoman at my house 
on a visit, and I asked her if she had got the 
sum of twenty pounds in her pocket, telling 
her, at the same time, how much I wanted it. 
She told me she had not ; if she had I should 
have it. A few hours after the same woman 
was coming into my study, but she found it 
locked, and knocked at the door. I let her 
in, and she said, '' I am sorry I disturbed 
you." I replied, ''You do not disturb me ; I 
have been begging a favor of God, and I had 
just done when you knocked ; and that favor 
I have now got in faith, and shall shortly 
have in hand, and you will see it." The 
afternoon of the same day two gentlemen out 
of the city came to see me ; and, after a few 
hours* conversation, they left me, and, to my 
great surprise, each of them, at parting, put 
a letter into my hand, which, when they were 
gone, I opened, and found a ten pound note 
in each. I immediately sent for the woman 
up stairs, and let her read the letters, and 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 263 

then sent the money to answer that de- 
mand. 

About this time an affair happened which 
I do not care to pass over. I had a few very- 
fine pigs in my yard, and a neighbor of mine 
had the misfortune to lose one. To repair his 
loss I made him a present of one of mine. 
Two more very poor men in the country, who 
are obliged to live by faith as well as myself, 
wanted each of them a pig to keep for the 
winter, and I made each of them a present of 
one. A person being sick in the house de- 
sired a bit of one, and I ordered one to be 
killed ; and, soon after that, a sudden death 
happened to another ; so that I was obliged 
to buy two, which cost me five guineas, and 
not so good as my own. A day or two after 
this, when I went home, I saw seven fat 
sheep and a fat lamb in my field. I asked 
my man where they came from. He said he 
knew not. '* Last night," said he, **a man 
brought them, and I told him he had brought 
them to the wrong place, for I had bought 
none, and I was sure my master had bought 
none; and therefore I desired him to take 



264 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

them back again/' The man replied, "Is 
this Mr. Huntington's house?" The answer 
was, *'Yes, it is." ''Then," said the man, 
"my orders were to drive them here; and 
here I will leave them, nor will I drive them 
anywhere else." And the man was right. 

Another sad calamity presented itself, and 
that was the extravagant price of oats, and 
four horses to keep ; and, though my favorite 
young horse has been coveted by several, yet 
I did not care to part with him ; for if I have 
any hobbies in this world, they are most 
certainly my gardens and my living creatures. 
Besides, to sell a horse would look as if the 
Doctor was sinking in the world. And, to 
add to all this, the Philistines had lately been 
upon me ; I mean the tax-gatherers. I am 
never spared upon this head. I pay some 
pounds per annum poor's-rates, even for the 
chapel ; and, upon my appealing to the 
higher powers to know the cause, a wise man 
informed me that chapels were nothing but 
shops, and Lord Mansfield had declared it ; 
and therefore it must be true. However, 
many gentlemen are much in the dark about 



THE BAJVK OF FAITH. 265 

the goods that we shopkeepers deal in ; for, 
had they ever bought either wine or milk 
without money and without price, they would 
set more value upon such a shop than they 
would upon the Bank of England or the 
Royal Exchange. 

I really believe it has pleased God to raise 
me up and send me forth, not only into the 
ministry, that I might tell them that fear God 
what he hath done for my soul ; but it hath 
pleased him to keep me depending on his 
providence, from hand to mouth, throughout 
the whole course of my pilgrimage, that I 
might publish to the church at large, not a 
recital of what Providence has done for 
others, but, as a living witness of the facts, 
what he has done for me, to encourage the 
faith of others. And God has so done it 
that infidelity itself cannot give this my 
testimony the lie ; for these things were not 
done in a corner. The persons whom God 
hath raised up and made use of to assist me 
in times of need, being in number about five 
hundred brethren, are all witnesses of these 
facts, for of these '' the greater part remain 



266 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." 
Nor have I a single doubt but it is the will of 
God that I should publish these things. Of 
this I have had a most glaring proof but this 
week; for after I had begun this narrative, and 
wrote about two thirds of it, I got weary of 
it, and cold to it, and laid it aside for two or 
three months, and seemed to have no inclina- 
tion to meddle with it any more. But, at the 
beginning of last week, I had several debts 
brought to my mind, and set continually 
before me, and being at the same time under 
my often infirmity, the gout in the pocket ( I 
call it the gout ; for, when I have got a little 
money, I am for going here and there into 
the country to visit the brethren, and see 
how they do ; but, when my infirmity is upon 
me, I am confined to my work in town ) ; 
seeing several debts set before my eyes, 
and being at the same time afflicted 
with this disorder, God's hand being quite 
shut up ever since I returned from Lewes, I 
cast matters over in my mind, and said, 
What shall I do ? The answer was. Sit down 
and finish your Bank of Faith, and God will 



/ 

THE BANK OF FAITH, 267 

bless the sale of it, and that will answer pres- 
ent demands. And, although every circum- 
stance here related was entirely gone both 
from my mind and memory, having laid it so 
long aside, and having no heart to meddle 
with it again, yet, when I came to a determi- 
nation to shut myself up in town all day long 
to write, and went to bed with this determi- 
nation, I no sooner awaked in the morning but 
almost every circumstance that is related in 
these fifty or sixty latter pages of the work 
were all brought to my mind, and set in order 
before me, so that I had nothing to do but to 
sit down and write them off hand ; and no 
sooner had I begun but I found my soul 
remarkably happy, and much delighted in the 
work ; and I believe the whole of this was 
done by that sweet Remembrancer who is 
to bring all things to our remembrance what- 
soever Jesus Christ has spoken unto us, 
whether by chastisements or by comforts, by 
frowns or by smiles, in providence or in grace 
(John xiv. 26). 

Moreover, when I have come to some partic- 
ulars, which I have thought would be disclosing 



268 THE BAXK OF FAITU, 

all my secret conflicts to some that hate me, 
and be an entertainment to those who feed 
upon ashes, and little better than casting 
pearls before swine, and rather hurt the con- 
sequence of the Doctor than otherwise, a res- 
olution to seek God's honor and his people's 
good before my own, has been attended with 
sensible sensations of heavenly comfort, 
insomuch that my mouth has been often 
filled with laughter while I have been writing 
them. 

Some little time ago I was invited to preach 
at a distance from London, the minister of 
the place being sick. It was some time 
before I could raise the wind, or furnish the 
pocket for this expedition. However, at last 
it came in, though I forgot the quarter it 
came from ; and with about ten pounds I set 
off, and stayed over two Sabbath days. Just 
before my departure, a gentleman gave me 
six guineas, another ten, and two others gave 
me five guineas each. Another pressed me 
hard with a farther present, which I refused, 
being full and abounding. So true is the 
word of God. Where God uses a servant of 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 269 

his to sow spiritual things bountifully, carnal 
things are as bountifully reaped ; and in 
both senses, they that sow sparingly reap 
sparingly. ** The liberal soul deviseth liberal 
things, and by liberal things shall he stand." 
That text hath often been a support and a 
comfort to me ; and I can set to my seal that 
God is true. 

But I come now to a disaster which befel 
me. My young horse fell sick about two 
months ago, and so he continues to be, with 
little likelihood of his ever recovering. A 
valuable cow, which cost me fifteen pounds, 
fell ill, and wasted to a skeleton. My man 
said that her inside was decayed, so we parted 
with her for fifty shillings. About this time 
a dog came in the night and killed a lamb, 
and ate up almost the whole of it. Three 
nights after he came again, and killed five 
capital ewes, and wounded another lamb. 
From that time two men, well armed, watched 
for three or four nights, when, about one 
o'clock in the morning, the dog came again. 
They both fired at him, and both hit him, 
and brought him down. He was a terrible 



270 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

creature, of the lurcher and wolf kind ; but 
he met with his just deserts. I have just 
received a lawyer's letter demanding payment 
for the dog. All these things are against me. 

But not many days after this the Lord 
sent me, by different hands, twenty-seven 
pounds ten shillings, and thus repaired my 
loss. Poor Jacob had many of his flock torn 
by wild beasts, and some stolen by day and 
some by night ; and Laban made him bear 
the loss of them all ; but God's blessing upon 
him always repaired his losses ; and though 
his wages were changed ten times, he went 
home to his country two bands. I have often 
observed that in whatever we take the most 
delight, there the calamity generally falls. I 
long since saw this in the death of four or 
five of my children, and I see it now ; for it 
is my favorite horse that is sick, and my 
little flock, that are the principal part of my 
hobby ; and it is among these that the slaugh- 
ter was made. 

I must now drop a few observations that I 
have made upon Providence, which I hope 
will not be tedious or disagreeable to my 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 271 

dearly beloved friend ; I mean with respect 
to such things as have often appeared to ful- 
fil the desires of my heart when I dared not, 
when I could not muster up courage enough to 
ask or pray for them. For instance : soon after 
my deliverance I went to hear the word at 
Kingston upon Thames, where I sometimes 
heard a gentleman from London who was 
something of an orator ; and his oratory had 
such an effect upon me that I often wished 
I had but property enough, I would carry 
that person at my own expense all over the 
nation, that he might spread the gospel of 
the Saviour in every place. And yet I never 
got any comfort or establishment from his 
ministry, but the contrary ; for I was sure to 
return home in legal bondage whenever I 
heard him. This served to give me a little 
insight into the deception and vanity of 
human oratory without the power of divine 
grace. Now, though I never dared to ask 
the Almighty for riches to enable me thus to 
do, yet he soon afterwards opened my mouth 
to tell others what he had done for me; and 
it hath pleased God to give testimony to the 



272 THE BAXK OF FAITH. 

word of his grace. And thus '^the desires 
of the righteous shall be granted " ( Prov. 
X. 24). 

Another thing I much desired was that I 
might be enabled to build a house of prayer 
for the Lord, to show the love and regard I 
had to him for his manifold mercies to me, 
though I never dared to ask God to enable^ 
me to do any such thing. . Yet it fell out 
about two or three years afterwards that a 
person at Worpolsdon, near Guildford in Sur- 
rey, offered to give a bit of ground and an 
old barn, and to secure it for the good of the 
Lord's cause, if I could collect the sum of 
forty pounds to build a chapel. I did so, and 
the place was soon erected ; but the person 
who took upon himself to see the writing 
executed and the place secured, neglected it ; 
and soon after, the man on whose ground the 
place was built lost his w^ife, and taking a 
liking to a woman of some property, who 
was of the Baptist persuasion, went into the 
water; and after that the place was taken 
away from me, and a Baptist minister ad- 
mitted in my room, where he continued but 



THE BANK OF FAITH. 273 

a few weeks, for most of the people followed 
me to another place. 

Before I was turned out of this little 
chapel, the Lord showed me what was com- 
ing on, and sent me these two passages of 
Scripture : '^ Because he hath oppressed and 
hath forsaken the poor; because he hath vio- 
lently taken away an house which he buildeth 
not ; surely he shall not feel quietness in his 
belly, he shall not save of that which he 
desired'' (Job xx. 19, 20). And, ''Whoso 
rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart 
from his house " (Prov. xvii. 13). Previous 
to my being turned out of the chapel I 
opened my thoughts and views to the person 
on whose ground the chapel was built, and 
told him all that I saw coming on, as it 
respected himself ; that he was going to be 
married ; that he must go into the water 
before the woman would have him ; and that 
afterwards he would take the place from me. 
And in this I believe I told him all the inten- 
tions of his heart. He wept, and said, '' God 
forbid!'* But very soon afterwards he ful- 
filled the prediction. And when I received 



274 THE BANK OF FAITH, 

my orders to come there no more, I told him 
that evil would never depart from his house. 
To which he replied, '' It is a light thing to 
be judged of you, or of man's judgment/' 
However, soon afterwards God sent an evil 
spirit among the few that abode there, and 
divided and scattered them into all winds. 
The premises were sold, and my little chapel 
was sold also, for a place to put corn in. 
Nor did that man ever prosper afterwards as 
long as he lived ; and he died a few years 
after this affair happened. 

We afterwards built a little place at Work- 
ing in Surrey, and I collected about twenty- 
five pounds towards that ; and the Word is 
preached there to this day. Soon after I col- 
lected about forty pounds towards building 
one at Sunbury at Middlesex ; and not long 
after the Lord enabled me to build Provi- 
dence chapel in London. In these things 
God fulfilled the desires of my heart, though 
I could not muster up courage to pray for 
them. 

Farthermore, I long wished to have a situ- 
ation where there was plenty of garden- 



THE BANK OF FAITH, 275 

ground, as I understood gardening, and found 
that buying garden stuff for a large family 
took a deal of money. And it has pleased 
my God to grant me this also. '' He will ful- 
fil the desire of them that fear him " ( Ps. 
cxlv. 19). 

I must mention two more of the desires of 
my heart, if my dear friend is not weary of 
these things. I much wished for a place 
with two or three acres of land, being desir- 
ous of keeping a cow, as there is no such 
thing as good milk to be got in London, and 
milk is a very useful article in a large family. 
I aimed no higher than a dairy of one cow, 
and for years tried hard to get such a situa- 
tion, and had nearly accomplished it once, by 
taking a house in Cravon-hill, near Bays- 
water, but was disappointed, and therefore 
gave up all expectations of it. But not long 
after I was settled where I now am, and 
instead of one cow, the Lord sent me four. 

Once more. Preaching once a week in the 
city, it often happened in the winter season 
that it rained or snowed on the nights of my 
being there. At such times it was seldom 



276 THE BANK OF FAITH. 

that a hackney-coach could be got, being gen- 
erally all taken up ; so that I was obliged 
frequently to walk to Paddington. And not 
a few deplorable wet journeys have I had of 
this sort, which made me often wish that my 
circumstances would enable me to engage a 
glass-coach statedly for two or three nights 
in the week. But how this desire was grant- 
ed, and exceeded by the gift of the coach and 
horses, I have related before. 

And here ends the* narrative of this remark- 
able man. While God does not call every 
man to this special mode of life, yet all may 
learn from it the great importance of a sim- 
ple trust in God for help in every time of 
need. The want of such a faith has brought 
clouds and darkness upon many a soul, and 
its possession has carried many through 
rough places in holy triumph. *' Have faith 
in God," is the divine command, for **all 
things are possible to him that believeth/' 



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BY 



Rev. Sheridan Baker, D. D. 

Of Coshocton, Ohio. 
278 PAGES. PRICE 75 CENTS^ 

This is a ''plain account of Christian Perfectton/* 
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SONGS OF 

JOT ili Mmi. 

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The book has recently been enriched by the addition of 
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Price 25 and 35 CentSs 

The first book ever published on the subject. A brief, 
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CONSECRATED TALENT, 

By Rev. I. E. LOWERY, A. M. 

Of the South Carolina Conference M. E. Church. 

Trns book is entitled to consideration from the fact that 
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ONLY 25 CENTS. 



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PREFACE. 

A birthday book is a combination of two excellent things : 
An Autograph Album and a " Daily Food.'* 

Autograph Albums often degenerate into silliness or thread- 
bare repetitions. The birthday book obviates this. 

We are certain that the sentiments of this book will be 
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This book is prayerfully compiled and sent forth to all who 
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POTEHmWOMM. 

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This is not a book of decorum for young ladies, nor a 
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It contains wholesome counsel, sympathy and en- 
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DAXIEL STEELE. 

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.E3.XSTOI?.ir 



OF THE 




By REV. J. E. SEARLES. 

This is a Sermon preached by Bro. Searles at the 
Pitman Grove Camp-meeting, Aug. 5, 1887, on the occa- 
sion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the [N'ational Asso- 
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TO WHICH 

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